Fortified with the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church, David A. Renaud entered eternal life on June 6, 2025. He was the beloved son of the late Sylvester and Margie (Burke) Renaud. He was the loving and much loved brother of Joe (Roxanne) Renaud, Marise (Jeff) Sims, Donna (Kevin) McCarthy, Jim Renaud, Dan (Sharon) Renaud, and Tom (Sue) Renaud. He was the proud and loving uncle of Christina (Brandon) Atwood, Shaun (Beth) Sims, Carissa (Nick) Ewing, Becky Rabe, Leah (Zack) Folk, Corey Renaud, Jason Renaud, and the late Mark and Nikki Renaud, as well as a great-uncle to Tallulah, Emerson, Keegan, Colton, Dorothy, Brock, and Lillian. He leaves behind an extended family of cousins, godsons, an aunt and was a treasured friend, neighbor, and colleague.
David inherited a strong work ethic from his father. He took his first job as a paper boy very seriously and thus began to understand the value of hard work, an appreciation he carried with him throughout his life. Earnings from his part time and summer jobs during high school and college went toward his college tuition. As a student at Westminster College in Fulton, MO, he loved his work/study job as tour guide for the Winston Churchill Memorial. In that role, he met people from all over the world, became comfortable speaking in front of large groups, and learned the art of tailoring a presentation to different audiences – skills that served him well in his career. After graduation from Westminster in 1977, he began working at Peabody Coal and started working on his MBA at Saint Louis University. After two years at Peabody, he decided to resign in order to return to school full time, completing his MBA in May 1980. A month later, he began working at Anheuser-Busch as a staff internal auditor and began studying for the CPA exam, which he passed in 1981. At the time of his retirement from A-B in 2009, he held the position of Vice President and CFO of Anheuser-Busch (Shanghai) Management Co, based in Shanghai, China.
Dave was a simple guy who deeply loved his family. His Catholic faith was important to him, and he modeled his life on the Prayer of St. Francis. A generous man, he believed in people and was always willing to offer someone a hand up on the ladder of life. He was proud to be a native St. Louisan and enjoyed watching sports of all kinds, especially St. Louis teams. Some of his favorite memories include going to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, attending the 2011 World Series games (especially Game 6 with his brother Jim), going to Spring Training, seeing the Blues finally win the Stanley Cup in 2019, and going to March Madness basketball games. He loved to tell the story of an A-B colleague working in London who happened to be watching a Cardinals baseball game, when suddenly the TV camera found David in the crowd. His colleague took a picture of the TV screen and texted it to David during the game.
He enjoyed people, had the best “small world” stories of connecting with people, and loved a good party with good music. He loved reminiscing about all sorts of adventures with all sorts of people and celebrating the holidays (especially Thanksgiving). Due to some of his childhood adventures, he held the family record for the most ER visits for stitches. He traveled extensively for business and pleasure. Beaches and World War II historical sites were favorite destinations. Some of his favorite foods and beverages included cold beer, the Perryville Seminary Picnic fried chicken, Blue Bell ice cream, homemade Chex mix, and homemade soups (especially his own).
In life, David was a firm believer in paying it forward and provided generous support to many organizations. In that spirit, his family suggests donations to: The Backstoppers , Siteman Cancer Center or a charity of your choice.
At his request, funeral services will be private. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
Dave was the best boss I have ever worked for. I will always remember many great conversations with cold beer at Long Bar in the Portman Shanghai! Rest in peace Dave! Will miss you!
Dave was a wonderful person. I worked with Dave during the Houston brewery expansion. What a great guy to work with. We will miss him
Ahh. Dave. I met “China” Dave years ago through Jim Shipley and the “mafia”. Always with a Stella and a smile. He was kind, always helpful, always welcoming and a damn good person. He will be missed…but his memory will certainly live on. Cheers, Dave! I hope there’s a bar serving Stella in heaven. ❤️
So sorry for your loss, Renaud family. Tom, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
David is and will always be a dear friend to me and my husband. We spent many hours hanging at our local watering hole and found we shared Perryville as a home base. He was so easy to talk to and loved to share stories of his many adventures or just talk about the day to day happenings in sports or daily life. He was the first person to offer to help anyone in need & his generosity knew no bounds. We will miss him greatly and are honored to have known him. We can only hope to pay it forward as he did. You will always be in our hearts Shanghai Dave!
The world was a better place with Dave in it. One of the finest people to work with and have as a friend. Thank you Dave and rest in peace.
This is so hard to believe, my heart is broken. Dave was definitely one of the good guys, after we reconnected there was lots of good conversations, lunches and laughs. He will be missed by all of us .💔
My sincere condolences to Dave’s beloved family. Thank you to the author(s) of the well-written obituary which captures the life and character of Dave as well as can be done in a few short paragraphs. He was indeed all of those things … hard-working, honest, respected, good natured, and just fun to be around with his great sense of humor, wit, and easy laugh. I enjoyed the times I had the good fortune to spend with Dave, especially in Japan and China. He was a treasured colleague and friend. I will deeply miss him.
Godspeed to you on your journey, dear friend.
Dave was one of the best and will be missed! I will never forget my first business trip to Shanghai to work on the annual budget. Dave was our host and there were so many memorable events from that trip, especially the 1 block taxi ride back to the hotel and Long Bar because one of our coworkers did not want to walk anymore. Every time I saw him that story would be brought up. Cheers to you Dave!
As a dear childhood friend of my father, Dave was a longtime friend of our family. He was every word of the above obituary. He was one of the most kind and genuinely happy people I have ever met. He was also remarkably thoughtful, which is something I try to emulate due in large part to knowing him.
I had the unique opportunity and great fortune to spend quite a bit of personal time with Dave as his “roommate” one summer in China when I was clerking for a law firm in Shanghai. Like so many others, I was lucky to share a cold beer or two with Dave at the Long Bar. That summer in particular Dave shared so much knowledge with me—I cannot explain how just talking to him educates and sharpens you—and in that regard I am a direct beneficiary of getting a “hand up” along the ladder of life. I will pay it forward.
Thank you, Dave. I owe you one.
I’m so saddened to hear of Dave’s passing. He was such a ray of sunshine and kindness. I’m thankful our paths crossed in Anheuser-Busch International, and I was able to experience his leadership and work ethic. Dave’s sense of humor and story telling drew people to him. He was easy to talk to and had a wealth of life experiences to share with us. I looked forward to our annual ABII gatherings to chat with him and reminisce. He is will be deeply missed.
Dr. Seuss has a quote “Don’t cry because it is over but smile because it happened” — Well no one had a better smile than Dave!!! Dave was an amazing friend and business partner. For the last 15 years we would meet Dave once a month to have a beer at one of our two favorite places….Michael’s Bar and Grill or OB Clark’s we would sometimes go to other places but these two were his and our favorites. We would watch sports and solve the world’s problems over beer and cocktails. We would also go on “history field trips” to different places in Missouri and those were always special outings. He always said “I am just a simple beer guy” — well he may of been a simple beer guy but he was mighty in his faith and friendship. Elio and I are blessed that “it happened” that our paths crossed and we became friends. You will be missed my friend but your memory and your smile will be in our hearts forever!!! Love you Dave!
So sorry for your loss… What a great guy with a million stories to tell. Our grade school get together will never be the same… My grade school crush… He was just a nice , kind and generous person. Prayers for all.