David James DeBoer, best known for his work in the railroad intermodal space, died Nov. 17, 2025 in Monterey Bay, Calif. He was 87.
DeBoer began his career in transportation at the New York Central Railroad. He later spent time at Trans World Airlines before joining the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Policy and Economics to work on the formation of Conrail following the Penn Central bankruptcy. Following that, he established the Rail Service Planning Office at the Interstate Commerce Commission. DeBoer eventually joined the Marketing Department at the Southern Pacific in 1978 and later became Assistant Vice President of SP’s intermodal division. Intermodal dominated the remainder of his career. In 1984, DeBoer left SP to help establish Greenbrier Intermodal, eventually becoming President of the division.
DeBoer represented the United States in international rail congresses in Bologna, Italy and Moscow, Russia, where he gave papers on U.S. Intermodal progress. He was also a writer. He wrote a monthly column on intermodalism for Modern Railroads (which Railway Age acquired in 1992) and later for Progressive Railroading under the pseudonym of Paul V. Carr. He authored “Piggyback & Containers, A History of Rail Intermodal on America’s Steel Highway,” which became a text for the industry.
The son of James Frederich DeBoer and Marian Elaine Teal, DeBoer was born in Kalamazoo, Mich. He grew up in Battle Creek, and was a graduate of Battle Creek Central High School in 1956. He attended Albian College and the University of Michigan, where he received his BA in 1960 and his MBA in 1963. DeBoer is survived by his wife of 66 years, Sandra Ogden DeBoer, a daughter, Kathleen Hurd of Vancouver, Wash., a son James Phillip DeBoer of Kutztown, Pa., a son Christopher David DeBoer of Walnut Creek, Calif.; seven grandchildren; and his sister, Karen DeBoer Potts of Lake Jackson, Tex.
“I knew Dave when he was at Greenbrier,” recalls Tom Simpson, who retired as President of the Railway Supply Institute (RSI) and also ran its predecessor, the Railway Progress Institute (RPI). “He chaired the short-lived RPI Committee on Intermodalism. Under that guise, he and I rented a car and toured rail lines in the Chicago area looking for solutions to the rail-truck-rail interchanges that slowed intermodal traffic in Chicago. We went so far as meeting with the mayor’s office to plead our case—alas, to no avail. Dave and I would also tour the IANA (Intermodal Association of North America) conference in Atlanta and amuse ourselves with the experimental equipment on display. It was all lots of fun.”
