Nevada Appeal Capitol Bureau
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
David Toll, longtime Nevada journalist, author and promoter of the Silver State, died Sunday at his home in Gold Hill.
He was 86.
Toll was born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Barbara. He first visited the Comstock in 1944 with his great-grandfather, who worked in Gold Hill during the heyday of the Comstock mining boom.
After serving in the Navy and attending the University of California in Berkley, he returned to Gold Hill in 1958. Using his inheritance from his great-grandfather, he purchased the Jones Mansion and began writing about what he called, “The most interesting state in America.”
In the early 1970s, famed Nevada author Robert Laxalt asked Toll to write a guidebook to Nevada. The result was “The Complete Nevada Traveler.”
His most recent work was a compilation of writings over his 60 years in Nevada published in January titled, “David Toll’s Nevada: a 50-year tour through the most interesting state in America.”
His prolific writings on Nevada over the years earned him numerous awards and, in 2016, the Excellence in Tourism Award by the Nevada Division of Tourism.
Toll is survived by his wife of 33 years, Robin Cobbey, six children, 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild as well as sisters Suzanne Abrams and Margery Toll.
The family requests you buy a tank of gas and visit a town in Nevada you’ve never been to before.
A celebration of life will be held later this year.
