Walter Davidson Tenney

David Tenney, aged 80, died on January 31st, 2025 while at his long time winter home in Key West, Florida with his partner and spouse of 58 years, Dr. Constantine D. Kyropoulos. David had been treated for lung cancer for the past thirty months and had been doing quite well until recently when he was suddenly overwhelmed by pneumonia.

He was born in New York City, the second son of David and Mary Evelyn Kuhnle Tenney, He grew up in Silver Spring, MD and graduated in 1962 from the Kodaikanal International High School in the south of India, where his father was posted with the U.S. Dept of State. He subsequently returned to the United States to get his B.A. in English from the University of Virginia in 1966. He returned to Washington D.C the next year and had been resident there ever since.

In 1976 he co-founded and ultimately became sole proprietor of the iconic bookstore-café, Kramerbooks and Afterwords at Dupont Circle, where he reveled in selling books to generations of Washingtonians, as well as to the diplomatic community and government agencies. David was a passionate reader and he prided himself on his ability to advise and recommend books to his very diverse clientele. Though he insisted that his bookstore was “serious” (it had an exceptionally broad inventory), his demeanor was always upbeat with a wry, irreverent and iconoclastic humor that words fail to describe. He sold the store in 2017.

David was predeceased by his elder brother, S. Dickson Tenney (“Dick”) and is survived by his spouse, C.D.Kyropoulos and his sister-in-law, Maria Eugenia Tenney. Services will be private with a gathering of friends and family planned for the future. Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice and condolences sent to [email protected].

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