Dan DeMille

Daniel Lee DeMille, better known as Dan, Babe, Dad, Uncle Dan, Danny, Dan the Man or Dan Dan the Weather Man, born on October 25, 1974 at 6:31 AM, passed away on April 23, 2026 at 12:42 AM after a courageous 4 year battle with lung cancer. Dan fought cancer in the same way he lived his life, with a positive attitude, a smile on his face and without a single complaint.

Dan was a loving and thoughtful husband. Erica fell in love with Dan the moment she met him. It was truly love at first sight for them both! And no, it wasn’t for his 1990s Ben Affleck good looks, but for his kindness, smile and heart. Dan showed his love for Erica every day in both big and little ways. For the entire duration of their marriage, each night Dan would turn down the corner of Erica’s side of the bed. He told her that this was a little something he knew he could do for her as a daily reminder of how much he loved her and wanted to take care of her. It was such a simple, small gesture but it filled her heart and made her smile each night. Even in his final weeks, when he was weak and not feeling well, he still turned down the corner of the bed for Erica. Erica will continue to turn down her side of the bed each evening in memory of Dan, and to represent how she misses him in small, big and all ways.

Dan was an attentive and supportive dad to Tyler and Meadow. All he wanted was to spend time with them and he had a special knack for being able to connect with them during each stage of their lives – from babies to now. When Tyler was around 5 years old, he wanted to play Mario Kart just like his dad. Dan would let Tyler press the “A” button on the Wii Remote to make the kart accelerate, and Dan would steer the kart using the Nunchuck behind Tyler's back. Tyler thought he was playing on his own and loved it! As Tyler got older, Dan taught Tyler how to steer so they could play together and eventually, Tyler started beating Dan in races. But it didn’t matter – what was important to Dan and Tyler, at every stage, was that they were playing together. Tyler inherited Dan’s technology knowledge, video game skills and ability to always know which wire goes where so all of our technology works!

Dan was beyond excited when he learned that his second child would be a girl. Erica and Dan spent months trying to figure out the perfect name for their baby girl – but struggled to find one that felt right. One afternoon, Dan returned from work and said – “I got it! I know the perfect name for her. Can we please name her after the cabin where I proposed to you – The Meadows – because The Meadows is a beautiful place where you agreed to be my wife and I know our daughter will be as beautiful as the moment you said yes.” Dan and Meadow had a strong bond – both enjoying Broadway shows, comedians, Saturday Night Live and just being silly together. They even created their own SNL skits - including reoccurring characters named Briettneiygh (BRIT-nee) and Behchkeey (BEH-kee) ~ their karate-fighting alter egos complete with blue hair wigs and valley girl accents. We would all laugh so hard any time this duo showed up to entertain our family!

Dan was a super fun uncle to his nephews Jake, Drew and Nick. When they were younger, Dan loved having the boys over for sleepovers in our basement. He played video games with them, shared his Monopoly strategies, and always cooked them his signature breakfast – frozen French Toast sticks (which they called Oven Sticks). As they got older, he was so honored when they asked him for help or advice – especially on how to trim the perfect beard. He wasn’t just their Uncle – he was their friend and the time they spent together created so many amazing memories – and a few inside jokes. “You messed me up, Uncle Dan!”

Dan was a treasured son-in-law. Dan and Joan had a very special relationship. We spent almost every Sunday at Grandma’s House and Joan made Dan’s favorite dish – Italian Sausage Sandwiches - at least once a month. In the early 2000’s – long before playing games on your smartphone was a thing - Dan downloaded the game cribbage – one of Joan’s favorite card games - to his flip phone so that he could learn how to play competitively with her. He did learn, and while it took a few years, he did finally beat her (every once in a while). Cribbage is traditionally a 2 person game, so Dan researched and learned how to play 3 person cribbage so that Joan, Erica and Dan could all play together. He had a way of always making sure everyone was included and a part of the fun.

Dan was an outstanding brother-in-law to Jennifer and Brigen. They both welcomed Dan to the family immediately. We spent every holiday, birthday, graduation, special occasion and vacation together. Jennifer and Brigen hosted us at their Wintergreen house several times a year which afforded Dan the opportunity to teach Tyler and Meadow how to ski! Dan was so grateful to be able to share his love of skiing with his family as well as so many other fun times in Wintergreen - night golf, ringing in New Years, board games, watching movies, swimming in the lake and Après-ski time back at the house.Dan was a caring son and brother to Frank, Marcia, Dustin, Randy and Tom. He was the youngest of 4 boys born within 5 years. When Erica first met Dan, he preferred to drink room temperature Coke out of the can. When she asked why, he replied “well, when you have 3 older brothers and we all have friends over, there was never enough room in the fridge to keep all the Cokes cold – so I would drink the ones from the pantry leaving the cold ones for someone else to enjoy.”Dan was a dedicated employee and had an impressive 25 year career at Visa – and no, he couldn't help you with your credit card balance. But he could tell you about ISO 8485, the error in Field 57 and he would always be the constant calming voice during Business Enhancement Release weekends. The kids would ask - Go or no go Dad?

Dan was an amazing friend. He exuded empathy like no one else. In their 28 years together, including 25 1⁄2 years of marriage, Erica never once saw Dan get mad or angry because he could always relate to how other people might feel. He taught his kids that a stranger is just a friend you hadn’t met yet and always happily put everyone else before himself. At parties, the beach or in concert parking lots he would be the last person to sit down because he took great care in setting up our “spot”. It was more important to him that everyone else had what they needed, felt comfortable, and that all of the chairs were facing each other to ensure everyone could have good conversations.

Dan loved Phish, our dogs Rosie and Daisy, live music, roller coasters, skiing, hiking, Mexican food, predicting the weather, blue Life is Good shirts and telling really good dad jokes. He was an active member of our community as a Little League coach and a leader for Pack 1863 and Troop 1547. He was a laid back, one of a kind guy and his absence is felt in more ways than we can even imagine. We will miss him every moment of every day but will do our best to smile through the tears, live each day to its fullest, not put off to tomorrow what you can do today and remembering what is truly important in life - spending time with those you love.

He is preceded in death by his mother Marcia and brother Tom.

A funeral mass will be held in St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church, at 10500 Zion Drive, Fairfax, VA 22032, on Monday, June 15 at 11:30am. This will be followed by a luncheon reception at Dan’s favorite restaurant, Guapo’s, at 13050 Fair Lakes Shopping Center, Fairfax, VA 22033.

In honor of Dan and how he lived his life with such a positive attitude, we are asking everyone to wear Life is Good shirts to his funeral. You can wear one you already own, or a new one can be purchased at lifeisgood.com.

Dan’s family would also like to thank his incredible oncologist, Dr. Stephen Liu, and his fabulous team, for their care, guidance, compassion and love over the past 4 years. We are so thankful for the extra time we had with Dan thanks to Dr. Lui finding so many treatments that helped keep his cancer at bay for as long as possible. In "(Dr.) Lui of flowers", we are asking that donations be made in Dan’s name to the Lung Cancer Care and Research Fund at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital to directly support Dr. Lui and his incredible work finding a cure so others don’t have to lose their loved ones to this disease. Visit https://giving.medstarhealth.org/medstarhealth/get-involved/donate/DeMilleto donate online or mail your donation to MedStar Health Office of Philanthropy, 10980 Grantchester Way, 7th Floor, Columbia, MD 21044, Memo: IMO Dan DeMille.