In Memoriam: David Wightman, XDX President

David Wightman, considered one of the foodservice equipment industry’s most creative technical minds of the past 20 years, died suddenly on July 29. He was 53.

Since 1999, Wightman had served as president and CEO of XDX Innovative Refrigeration, which focuses on improved refrigerant flow properties, heat transfer and thermodynamics to assist customers in driving down energy consumption in refrigeration and HVAC equipment. He pioneered several designs for refrigeration systems resulting in more than a dozen patents, including A.R.M.E.D. and XSTREAM technologies.

Concurrently, he worked in consulting and research at Jennings-Sauter Group. From 1995-2007, Wightman was a consultant, vendor and tech partner at Carrier Corp.; he worked at Leading Edge Technologies from 1995-99.

Colleagues lauded Wightman’s technical expertise. “My friend David Wightman flew under the industry radar, but he was “Superman” to Carrier Commercial Refrigeration,” said C. Wayne Best, who worked with Wightman at Carrier. “His technology saved our California energy requirements and won Beverage-Air a KI Award in 2005.”

Bob Wolters of Wolters-Althoff Investments summed up Wightman’s accomplishments. “David was the most brilliant and honest person I ever had the privilege of working with. He was a great partner and friend.  I’m sad that he won’t be here to see the full impact of his inventions.”

Wightman is survived by his wife, Debra; four children; two grandchildren; and three brothers. Services have been held. Memorial donations may be made to Smile Train.