Daniel F. Karvasek
January 21, 1943 - August 6, 2020
Beloved husband, father, and grandfather and well-known Whidbey Island Photographer, Dan Karvasek passed away on Thursday, August 6th, 2020. After a long period of illness, he died surrounded by his wife and three children at Providence Medical Center in Everett, WA.
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1943, Dan’s family soon relocated to Oak Lawn, a suburb of Chicago. A descendant from Eastern Europe, Dan was strong and exceptionally gifted in athletics. In high school he excelled in track, football and basketball. He played at the varsity level all four years and was eventually named “Athlete of the Half Century” for Oak Lawn High School. His infectious enthusiasm and love of life endeared him to many. He was known throughout the area, and became student body president his senior year.
Declining a college scholarship in order to care for his ailing mother, he soon followed his dream of living near the mountains. At 18 he traveled with a friend to California, stopping at every national park along the way, where he took some of his first nature photographs. They found work in Orange, California and Dan never left. He enrolled in college without a penny to his name, and within a week happened to meet up with one of his previous coaches from Illinois, who gave him a job in order to recruit him for the company football team.
Dan graduated California State University at Fullerton in 1967, where he played semi-pro football. In his senior year he was recruited by Ford Motor Company to represent the company to all Ford dealerships in Arizona. He married Pamela (Katie) Karvasek that same year and had his first child, Bradley Karvasek, in Arizona. Later, he was District Parts Sales Manager in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, where he raised his son, Brad, and two daughters, Krista and Sara. In 1985 Dan relocated to become District Part Sales Manager in Seattle. A natural born leader, Dan’s career with Ford extended 23 years, where he repeatedly developed and managed the most successful sales teams in the country and excelled in the many varied responsibilities he was offered. He left Ford in 1990 and began consulting for Kar Products, a parts supplier to dealerships, where he revolutionized the partnership between dealerships and parts suppliers.
During his career, he continued playing basketball, hiking, fishing and photography. He won several awards for both black and white and color photography. In 1994, he married Christi Cook in Redmond, Washington and the couple moved to Whidbey Island in 1995 to take advantage of the natural beauty and photographic opportunities. Soon Dan began his photography business, First Light Photography, producing high quality images that capture the Island splendor and feeling. His work projects his love of the outdoors and his uncommon gift for both seeing beauty in the ordinary and making majestic scenes feel intimate. His work gained much popularity and has been awarded and recognized extensively on Whidbey Island, nationally and internationally, including acceptance in the Kodak National Exhibition and publication in the Nikon International Calendar. His work will remain available in Island shops and stores and online at www.dankarvasek.com.
Dan and Christi were best friends, inseparable for 25 years. Through joyous accomplishments and challenging hardships, they loved each other with no fear. They enjoyed hiking, fishing, golfing and traveling to scenic destinations, national parks and wildlife preserves from their home base on Whidbey Island, where Dan lived until his death.
Dan Karvasek lived life to the fullest with an adventurous, gregarious, generous spirit and a creative, tenacious will that allowed him to do anything he put his mind to. He loved God, family and country and inspired us all with his passion and love.
He is survived by his wife, Christi Karvasek; 3 loving children, Brad Karvasek in Issaquah, WA, Krista Britton in North Bend, WA and Sara Lee in Snoqualmie, WA; daughter-in-law, Leigh Karvasek and son-in-law, Ben Britton; and 5 grandchildren, Bradley, Gavin, Emma, Sloane and Preston.
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