David Falk

Born December 18, 1834, Eggenhausen, Bavaria, Germany
Died May 4, 1903, Boise, Idaho

David Falk, the first of the Falk brothers to leave Germany, settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1850. He remained there until 1859, when he moved to the west coast via the Isthmus of Panama. He operated a mercantile store in Portland, and later The Dalles, Oregon, before moving to Idaho in 1864. Four years later, with his brother Nathan, he opened the D. Falk and Company Mercantile. A third brother, Sigmund, joined the firm in the mid-1870s. The store name changed several times over the years but remained continuously in operation until its closure in the 1986 under the name of Falk's Idaho Department Store.

A heavy investor in the mining industry, David built the first smelter in Idaho.

David returned to Germany in 1866 to marry Ernestine Well. They became the parents of four children.