David Frederick Measday was born in London, England, in 1937. He studied at King's College School, Wimbledon, before attending Wadham College, Oxford. There he earned bachelor's (1959) and doctorate (1962) degrees in physics. From 1962 to 1965, Measday was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University in Boston. He then went on to work at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1965-1970. In 1970 he joined the Department of Physics (later to become the Department of Physics & Astronomy) at the University of British Columbia, working with the university's new particle accelerator TRIUMF. From 1970 to 1975, he taught as an associate professor, earning full professor's rank in 1975. He was awarded UBC's Senior Killam Fellowship, which enabled his 1977/1978 sabbatical studies at CERN and the CEA Centre at Saclay, France. In 1990 he became Associate Dean of Science and in 1998 was Dean pro tem. In this capacity, Measday aided with the departments' reorganization within the Faculty of Science included the shift to computer-centred laboratories. After his retirement, he continued to be active with the President's Advisory Committee on University Enhancement. In addition, he spearheaded the naming of the Davidson Arboretum.