David Garland Dutton Jr. died Jan. 20 in Oak Bluffs, surrounded by family. He was 93 and was a former longtime businessman on the Vineyard, where he owned Dutton’s Home Center in Vineyard Haven.

He was born on May 31, 1926 in Springfield, the first of four children born to Constance Mumford and David G. Dutton. Soon after, the family moved to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where Dave’s father was president of the A.C. Dutton Lumber Corporation, a family business with facilities up and down the East Coast and one of the first businesses to pressure-treat wood products.

Dave attended the Poughkeepsie Day School and Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. After graduation, he joined the Navy’s V-5 Aviation training program and was sent to Wesleyan University to continue his training. While in the Navy, he served on the USS Raymond as well as the USS Silverstein. When the war ended, he was discharged and attended Williams College for further education.

In 1949, he met Barbara McDowell on the shore of Cream Hill Lake in Cornwall, Conn. The attraction was instantaneous and lasted for more than 70 years. They married in July 1950 and raised four sons. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the family split time between Poughkeepsie and their beloved Vineyard home in Harthaven. During those years, Dave was elected as leader of the NBMDA, a national lumber wholesalers association, also while serving as president of the Dutton family business which was eventually sold, giving him the ability to move his family to the Vineyard year-round.

In 1976, he started an Island business based on what he knew best: building materials. Islanders will remember him best as the owner of Dutton’s Home Center (“Do Something Constructive”), located on State Road in Vineyard Haven. For two decades, he regularly dispensed wit and wisdom, and the store became a place where people would come to hang out, pick up building supplies, get a DIY lesson or enjoy a story.

Throughout his life, Dave explored many interests. In the 1960s, he earned a pilot’s license and flew his single-engine Cessna airplane in and out of the Tradewinds Airport in Oak Bluffs. He was a dedicated casual golfer, served on the Oak Bluffs finance committee, and as president of the Harthaven Association. After selling his business, he began traveling in an RV, earning the moniker Camper Dave. He regularly visited Nova Scotia and journeyed to both Alaska and California.

He is survived by his wife Barbara and their four sons: David of Vineyard Haven, Allan of Jamaica Plain, John of Las Cruces, N.M., and Robert of Oak Bluffs; and five grandchildren.

No public services will be held.