J. David Oder, beloved husband, father, grandfather, business entrepreneur and son of a preacher, graduated to Heaven on January 23rd, 2019, in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 73.

Dave was born on June 26, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, to John (“Jack”) Pershing and Doris Olive Oder. His early accomplishments included earning Master’s degrees from UCLA in Accounting, Business Administration and Computer Science. He utilized his knowledge in those fields to become a serial entrepreneur focusing on the computerization of accounting practices, a nascent industry at the time. With that experience and the opportunities often presented to such an entrepreneur, he, in 1994, established a highly-successful start-up called Shift4 Corporation, which grew to become the world’s largest independent payment gateway. The company processed billions of transactions and provided payment gateway and processing services to more than 33,000 clients. Dave was considered a visionary and pioneer in the payments industry, which under his direction created some of the most popular ways of not only processing transactions with an accounting flair, but helping to secure such a vital economic industry.

For nearly 25 years, Dave owned and operated Shift4 with his treasured wife of 51 years, Katherine Anne. Their children, Stephanie and J.D., joined the company along the way to make it a true family enterprise. Dave eventually relocated Shift4 Corporation from Irvine, CA to Las Vegas, NV where he and his family also took up residence.

Dave was known for his larger-than-life personage, business acumen, generous heart, and for blessing the lives of countless people. He was a proud patriarch of his family, and will be greatly missed.

Dave was preceded in death by his mother and father. He is survived by his spouse, Katherine Anne Oder; his son and daughter-in-law, J.D. II & Melissa Oder; his daughter and son-in-law, Stephanie & Thomas Stowers; his grandchildren, Kaitlyn Marie Oder, Korinne Elizabeth Oder, John David “Jack” Oder III, Jacob Stowers and David Stowers; his sister, Susan Cooper and her sons Douglas Gensel, and Robert (“Rob”) Gensel.

There will be a private remembrance of Dave’s life, and in lieu of flowers the family has asked that any donations in Dave’s name be sent to any charity benefitting first responders, or military survivors as those were causes that were close to Dave’s heart.