American ASL interpreter David Bar-Tzur has died/  David Bartzur has been an interpreter for many many years and hosted the
very popular website  http://www.theinterpretersfriend.org He was a convert to Judaism, and even though his faith had lapsed, he
maintained his strong association with the faith through his interpreting and also  published materials to help interpreters working in religious contexts (including some useful Christian material)  .  He made videos of scientific signs. Jewish signs, and more recently had got into signed songs. See http://www.youtube.com/user/davidbartzur

Found in apartment

His interpreting agency comented on a blog about his death

"It is with great saddness that I report to you all that David Bar-tzur has passed.We do not know the cause. He apparently called in to work not feeling well a couple days ago and had not been heard from since. The agency became concerned and asked 911 to check on him and his body was discovered in his apartment this morning (Jan 15, 2009)
I do not know the cause of death except it does not appear to be violent or murder or anything like that."

Website

David was most famous for his website http://www.theinterpretersfriend.org
. David was a complex and joyful character who had a voracious appetite for
any old stuff to do with sign languages and interpreting. Following on one
of his terps-l postings, we had an email correspondence about name signs for
foreign places, and he did me the honour of quoting me on his website. We
then became regular correspondents.

London

In  2007 David  spent the summer with usin London whilst he attended a crash BSL course at DeafWorks. He will be missed by amny on both sides of the Atlantic.