Born in Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Aosta Valley, he died of heart failure in Gressoney-La-Trinité after nearly six years in a coma, caused by injuries he sustained in a fall near Lake Placid, New York, on 3 March 1979.

[2] He had fallen two weeks earlier, in the downhill race of the Italian national championships at Cortina d'Ampezzo, and a friend reported David had complained of ongoing headaches since.

[6] He had been examined by a neurosurgeon,[7] but was allowed to join the Italian team for the conclusion of the World Cup season in North America and Japan.

He won his only World Cup race, a slalom in Oslo, less than a month before his accident, outpacing Ingemar Stenmark and Phil Mahre.

At the front wall of the parish church in Gressoney-Saint-Jean a memorial plaque is dedicated to David, and a racing piste is named after him in Gressoney Saint Jean.