Campground Industry Leader David Gorin Has Passed

David Gorin

David Gorin, a longtime lobbyist, campground industry consultant, and RV and manufactured housing Hall of Fame recipient who helped establish the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (National ARVC) as the voice of the North American campground industry, passed away early Sunday (June 11), according to a post his wife, Susan Gorin, made on CaringBridge.org.

Gorin had been using CaringBridge.org to communicate with friends after announcing he had entered hospice care in May. He had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic and liver cancer in late February.

Susan Gorin noted on CaringBridge.org that “He and I did a lot of talking and planning in preparation for this day. He was quite humble about what he wanted people to remember and say about him. What I can say is that his intentions and actions were always for good reasons, he was respected highly by those he worked with, he deeply loved our family and friends, and he met his three final goals: our annual Passover seder in NYC, our Memorial Day weekend with our sons and their girlfriends, and a pain-free departure from home through hospice.”

His funeral service will be held on Longboat Key at Temple Beth Israel at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 14, followed by a graveside service and reception at Palms Memorial Park, 170 Honore Avenue in Sarasota. More information will follow including his favorite places to donate (no flowers, please).

Temple Beth Israel will be hosting a Zoom webcast of the funeral as well for individuals who can’t make it in person. Woodall’s Campground Magazine will update this story with that information once it becomes available. You can also click here for more updates and to share your thoughts on CaringBridge.org. 

Gorin is nationally known for his pioneering work beginning in the late 1980s to transform the fledgling National Association of Campground Owners (NCOA) into the free-standing and financially solvent National ARVC, representing and promoting commercial park industry interests in government affairs, education and marketing across the U.S.

Gorin was the association’s chief executive from 1987 to 2001, during which time he helped establish an industry-wide Model Code of national building code standards for campgrounds and RV parks. The standards were initially outlined in the American National Standards Institute Code Section 1194 and subsequently added to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes.

Gorin’s other major accomplishments included establishing the National School of RV Park and Campground Management in Wheeling, W.Va., to provide professional instruction and training for campground and RV park owners and operators and their staff. Gorin also led the launching of GoCampingAmerica.com, one of the first websites to promote privately owned and operated campgrounds nationwide.

Gorin established David Gorin Associates LLC in 2002 and served as CEO of the Virginia Campground Association from 2002 to 2011, a client of his firm  He also continued to work for National ARVC for many years as a lobbyist and legislative affairs consultant while also building his consulting work with private park operators, developers and investors nationwide.

Gorin has been a leading proponent of luxury RV resorts and has consulted for numerous developers who have built high-end RV resorts in Florida and other Sunbelt states that sell their sites to RV owners. He and a business partner developed Holiday Cove RV Resort in Cortez, Fla., in 2007 and 2008.

In his younger days, Gorin was a teacher in New York City for five years before becoming the regional director for the Conservative Synagogues of America, based in Washington, D.C. and serving 45 affiliated synagogues in the Mid-Atlantic States. During the 1976 presidential campaign, he worked for President Ford’s re-election in a special role targeting the Jewish community. Gorin subsequently became a lobbyist for the American Jewish Congress and later the Solar Energy Industries Association before joining the National Campground Owners Association (NCOA) in 1987.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/campground-industry-leader-david-gorin-has-passed/