LOS ANGELES—Veteran adult industry sales executive David Diamond passed away Monday night, his close friend Janet Reynolds confirmed to AVN. He was 61.
Diamond, a native of Sacramento who was the sales manager for Girlfriends Films, had been hospitalized in LA since May 16, when he suffered a massive heart attack while cycling on Pacific Coast Highway. Recently, he had been in hospice care.
“They didn’t expect him to make it as long as he did, but that’s him—he’s a fighter,” said Reynolds, who started in adult in 2003 and is an Account Executive at NS Novelties. “He said goodbye… A bunch of us called and he had the telephone calls sent into his room. We got to say goodbye that way. It’s absolutely a tragic loss. He’s been my friend for over 18 years.
“He was my first friend in the industry. He took me under his wing… We had the best of times…”
Diamond had led the sales department at Girlfriends Films since March 2014, beginning as Distribution Sales Executive and becoming the point person for Girlfriends Films’ deep library of DVDs that expanded in recent years to include dozens of partner studios for which the company facilitated DVD distribution.
Moose, the president of Girlfriends Films, told AVN, “The first time I met David was all it took for us to become lifelong friends.”
“It was my first Hawaii Expo and David had lost his meds and I had a rental car and told him I’d take him to the pharmacy,” Moose recalled Monday night. “Eight years later I was truly blessed to bring him into the Girlfriends Films work family and we never looked back.
“He made work so fun. And in dealing with all of these industry peeps, he had no enemies. He would shoot the shit every day around the world. I loved every day working with him but more importantly, we became family and I loved the guy.”
Diamond got his start in the adult industry in 1999 as a sales associate at legendary VCA Pictures, which at the time was one of the adult industry’s biggest studios.
He stayed on as a sales associate at VCA when the company was acquired by LFP Inc., the parent company of Hustler Video, and was promoted to National Sales Manager for Hustler’s DVD division in 2005.
Diamond remained with Hustler until 2012, spearheading the sales for several top-selling DVDs such as Not the Bradys XXX, Who’s Nailin’ Paylin, and This Ain’t Avatar XXX 3-D.
Reynolds said in addition to being an avid cyclist that Diamond also loved attending Dodgers baseball games and going to the theatre.
“He was an actor, so he performed in a lot of small theatre over the years," Reynolds said. "And he loved music. … He was everyone’s friend. No one ever had a bad word to say about David. He was one of those people everyone loved. He would walk into a room and everyone knew him. And he wanted to know about everybody’s life. He always took time to really listen. This is an industry loss.”
Lewis Adams, sales manager for US Arcades who knew Diamond since the mid-2000s, told AVN they used to discuss books.
“He was a big reader,” Adams said. “We talked about different authors. He was a great guy.”
Girlfriends Films' Moose said he also will never forget the memories he made with Diamond while on the road.
“We had so many world travels together and we got to have so many new experiences,” Moose said. “I remember our many drives to AVN [in Las Vegas] and he would meet me at my house, come in and mess with my three kids and then we would be off to another AVN.
“On the way we would talk about so many things in life. But every time a car passed me he would call me a bitch and say, ‘Was that a Prius or a Hyundai?’ No matter what it was, he had a blast and loved what he did. Also in the last couple years he found a special girl that made him so happy. Thank you for coming into his life; he loved you so much…”
Moose added, “We will be lost without you and will always tell stories of how much of a fucking true legend you are. Love you and thank you Diamond.”
