Obituary

OHS graduate dies at 34

David Miljoner spent life fighting for social justice

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David Miljoner, a social justice activist who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Oceanside, died in Seattle on Nov. 19 from lymphoma. He was 34.

Miljoner attended middle school and high school in Oceanside — graduating in 2000 — and went on to earn an undergraduate degree in English and a master’s degree in political economy from State University of New York at Albany.

Miljoner moved to Seattle in 2007 to work as an investigator for the U.S. Department of Labor — following in the footsteps of his father, Irv Miljoner, who heads the department’s Long Island office — where he helped vulnerable and exploited low-wage workers, according to his husband, Sean Dougherty. He was most recently appointed as the assistant director in the agency’s Seattle district office, and his passion for social justice matched the love he had for those close to him.

“David was a very kindhearted, very loving individual who just cared deeply about his friends and family,” Dougherty told the Herald. “He was just always there for you when you needed him.”

Dougherty and Miljoner met in 2011, and as they backpacked through Hawaii and roamed the streets of Mexico City together, Dougherty said he learned how adventurous Miljoner was. Miljoner had also studied and worked abroad in Chile and Peru, and his exposure to poverty, as well as different cultures, helped spark his career advocacy, Dougherty said.

Miljoner was diagnosed with lupus as a child, which helped him appreciate life more and live it joyfully, according to his husband. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in July, and the two were married a week later in the hospital by Miljoner’s sister, Lisa. She said though she is two years older than David, he was wise beyond his years and often acted like the older subling.

“He was mostly like the big brother, instead of the little brother, always full of advice and wisdom, and kind of an old soul,” Lisa said. “I guess all the challenges in his life gave him that experience on how to be a better person.”

Lisa, who lives in Freeport, also graduated from Oceanside High School, and the siblings remained close despite living on opposite sides of the country. Miljoner, who spent time living with Dougherty in both San Francisco and Seattle, loved the west coast, Lisa said, and when she traveled there to visit her brother in the hospital last July, him and his fiancée asked her to get ordained. She married them at Swedish First Hill hospital on July 17 after an online ordainment process.

“I actually didn’t think it was going to be legitimate until I was in the county clerk’s office handing in the certificate,” Lisa said with a soft laugh, “but I was able to do that for them, and it was very special.”

In addition to his husband, father and sister, Miljoner is survived by his mother, Mary Ellen Byers and his stepfather, Tom Byers, both of Wantagh, and his stepmother, Shari Miljoner, of Oceanside. His funeral took place on Nov. 22 in Seattle, and memorial services in San Francisco and Long Island will take place at a later date.

“He was amazing and kind, and he had this incredible, infectious laugh that once he started laughing, everybody just started laughing,” Dougherty said of Miljoner. “He had an amazing smile and was fiercely devoted to me, and took care of me up until the very end.”