Daniel David Ziegler

Daniel David Ziegler was born on February 26, 1944, in Bay City, Michigan, to Waldemar and Ada Ziegler. He passed away on September 25, 2026, in Excelsior, Minnesota.

Daniel grew up in Bay City with his brothers, Mark and Dale. Shy as a child but intensely curious, he excelled in science. During his senior year at T.L. Handy High School in 1962, he won the science fair with a project titled Experimental Surgery of the Pancreas. His work earned him a trip to Seattle, Washington, to compete in the National Science Fair.

After graduating from high school, Daniel attended Michigan State University, where he met Barbara Bayley in 1962. They married in 1964 and had two sons, Daniel and David. The couple later divorced, and Daniel never remarried. He eventually returned to his education at Wayne State University, something he was especially proud to have completed.

Daniel left college as a young man and found an unlikely calling for someone who had grown up so shy: sales. While selling encyclopedias for World Book, he discovered an ability to connect with people and credited the experience with helping him come out of his shell. He became a successful salesman, earning sales awards, advancing into management, and eventually training others in skills he had once needed to learn himself.

His sales career was interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army. Daniel was stationed in Germany, an experience that became part of his life story even though he made no secret of the fact that military life was not for him. Following his service, he eventually went to work in security at General Motors, where he remained until leaving the company in the early 1980s.

Throughout his life, Daniel was an avid reader and an eager student of philosophy, world religions, and the larger questions of life. He considered himself a writer, philosopher, and teacher. He self-published several books, including Naked Before God, and became an ordained minister, having the privilege of officiating several weddings.

Daniel was spiritual, intensely curious, and rarely short of an opinion. His beliefs were often unconventional, and he was never reluctant to question accepted wisdom or explore ideas outside the mainstream. He followed his curiosity wherever it led, continually reading, learning, writing, and developing his own ideas about life and the world around him.

Body acceptance was another passion. Daniel was a longtime naturist and encouraged others to overcome embarrassment and self-consciousness about their bodies and experience naturism for themselves. For him, it was part of a broader belief in accepting oneself and living authentically.

That same curiosity found its way into an ever-changing collection of hobbies and interests. Daniel enjoyed photography, videography, wood carving, music, and learning how things worked. Having learned to fix and build things during time spent on a farm as a child, he remained a lifelong tinkerer and problem-solver. He enjoyed building, modifying, and improving things, from guitars and keyboards to hand percussion instruments and whatever new project happened to capture his attention.

His creativity and curiosity were something he shared with his grandchildren. When Colin and Sadie were little, Grandpa built them a large cardboard house to play in. As they grew, he encouraged their own curiosity and creativity, giving them books and musical instruments, including guitars and keyboards, and sharing with them his love of reading, learning, and making things.

In his later years, Daniel lived with Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome (SCDS), an inner ear disorder that increasingly limited his ability to travel and engage with the world as freely as he would have liked. Though it placed significant limits on his daily life, his curiosity and interest in the world around him remained.

Daniel was always loving, often opinionated, unconventional, and endlessly curious. He followed ideas wherever they led him, sometimes far outside conventional thinking, and lived much of his life according to his own convictions.

Daniel was preceded in death by his parents, Waldemar and Ada Ziegler, and his brothers, Mark and Dale Ziegler.

He is survived by his sons, Daniel Scott Ziegler of Ivins, Utah, and David Allen Ziegler and his wife, Kelly Rische, of Orono, Minnesota; and his grandchildren, Colin Ziegler and Sadie Ziegler.

Daniel lived life on his own terms. His family will remember a reader, writer, thinker, and tinkerer; a father and grandfather who encouraged curiosity and creativity; and a man who remained unmistakably himself throughout his life.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to either of two organizations reflecting important parts of Daniel’s life.

Contributions may be made to The Naturist Society Foundation, reflecting Daniel’s longtime commitment to naturism, body acceptance, and living authentically: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=66RVUDTKAGKDG&source=url&ssrt=1790794849573

Alternatively, donations may be made in Daniel’s memory to the Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery to support inner-ear and SCDS research. When donating, please select “Dr. Della Santina’s Vestibular Research” or specify “SCDS Research” under the custom designation: https://secure.jhu.edu/form/oto