Remembering Dave Marsh

The Kristen Ann Carr Fund mourns the loss of Dave Marsh, our co-founder, longtime trustee, passionate advocate, and beloved member of the family at the heart of everything we do.

Dave passed away in the early hours of August 15, 2026, at the age of 76.

There are many ways to tell the story of Dave Marsh. To the music world, he was a groundbreaking rock critic, author, editor, broadcaster, historian, and passionate advocate whose writing helped shape the way generations understood rock and roll. Dave wrote with conviction, intellect, passion, and a deep belief that music mattered—not simply as entertainment, but as a reflection of who we are and the world we live in. As an early editor of Creem and a longtime contributor to Rolling Stone, he became one of the most influential voices in American music writing. 

Dave was a remarkable historian and biographer, chronicling artists and movements with the same intensity with which he experienced music himself. His knowledge seemed limitless, but what made his writing memorable was his point of view. Dave cared deeply about what music said about America, about working people, about race and inequality, and about the possibility of change. His books, including Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, Before I Get Old: The Story of The Who, and The Heart of Rock & Soul, became essential reading for generations of music lovers.

Dave was instrumental in conceiving E Street Radio, the 24-hour SiriusXM channel devoted to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. What began as a limited-run idea ultimately became a lasting home for Springsteen’s music, stories, history, and community. Dave was not simply an observer of that world. He helped create a place where the music, the people who made it, and the people who loved it could come together. He also hosted Live from E Street Nation, bringing his enormous knowledge and unmistakable voice directly to listeners.

Dave was also a lifelong civil rights activist and a passionate advocate for social justice. He believed that the issues that mattered in the larger world could not be separated from the music he loved. He used his considerable platform to speak out on racial justice, economic inequality, health care, voting rights, and other causes in which he believed. He never stopped asking difficult questions or challenging people to think more deeply.

But for all of us at The Kristen Ann Carr Fund, Dave’s most important legacy was deeply personal. Dave was Kristen Ann Carr’s dad and, along with his wife Barbara Carr and daughter Sasha Carr, they helped turn Kristen’s courage and determination into a lasting force for change. Dave worked tirelessly over more than three decades to support cancer research, focused on the training of physicians and improving the lives of people living with sarcoma cancer.

He never treated that work as separate from the rest of his life. His compassion, his sense of justice, and his belief that every person deserved a voice were as evident in his work on behalf of cancer patients as they were in his writing and activism.

Dave also brought something else to everything he did: an extraordinary capacity for love.

He was devoted to Barbara and deeply loved his family, especially his grandson, Weston Carr. 

For all of us at The Kristen Ann Carr Fund, Dave was not only a celebrated writer or a public figure. He was Dave. He was part of the fabric of this organization from its beginning, and his presence, perspective, humor, generosity, and determination helped shape this organization for more than 30 years.

We will miss him enormously.

In memory of Dave Marsh.
 In honor of Kristen Ann Carr. 
And in commitment to every young person and family facing sarcoma.

We will carry their legacy forward.