David J. DeJongeDavid J. DeJonge“Get to the witness; get to the facts.”
David J. DeJonge is an American photographer, activist, and entrepreneur. Raised on twenty acres in Hudsonville, Michigan—surrounded by cornfields and an ultra‑conservative Dutch Reformed community—he learned to persist when encouragement was scarce. He started in his parents’ basement (orange shag carpet), dropped out of community college, and ran a dual track: photojournalism at the Grand Rapids Press by day and portraits by night. The contrast—fatal accidents and house fires on one hand, exacting privacy and standards on the other—forged his eye and his backbone.
He grew that basement studio into a refined portrait practice inside the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Over the years DeJonge has photographed leaders in industry, philanthropy, and public life. As Edsel B. Ford II put it, “David is the best photographer on the planet.”
DeJonge located and interviewed the last living World War I veterans of America, Canada, England, and Germany—trench fighters and biplane pilots—so their first‑hand testimony would not be lost. Frank W. Buckles—America’s last WWI veteran—asked David in March 2008 to restore the neglected D.C. World War I Memorial and secure a national memorial. David promised to try—and kept his word. Working without paid lobbyists, he helped lead a citizen effort that restored the D.C. WWI Memorial (2011), recognized the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City as a national memorial, and authorized the National WWI Memorial at Pershing Park (2014).
David’s approach is simple: start with the witness, map the facts, and move—applied strategy in action. That mindset carried the WWI effort across years of setbacks and into law.
In 2010 he became an Antiochian Orthodox Christian. In 2012 he founded Legacy Icons to protect and share accurate Christian memory at scale. Today the company reaches 12M+ annual impressions, serves 70k+ customers, employs a team of 30, and grows 40%+ year over year—including a keystone partnership with Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Sinai.
From service‑learning curricula in Texas, Illinois, and Connecticut to work with Encyclopedia Britannica on WWI education, David focuses on context and first‑hand sources. His feature documentary Pershing’s Last Patriot follows the promise he made to Frank Buckles and the citizen effort that followed.
David and his wife, Gayle, have four adult children. One son is in seminary toward the Orthodox priesthood; another—closely involved at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Grand Rapids—is completing his degree while discerning business or ministry. Their daughter serves as an evangelical missionary, and their youngest son is preparing to lead the family business. The family lives in Zeeland, Michigan—echoing their ancestors’ leadership in Zeeland, the Netherlands.