David Karp

Who is David Karp?

David Karp is an active pomologist, traveler and writer, who calls himself a Fruit detective.

David is the son of Harvey Karp, an businessman, whose East Hampton home was reputed to be a palace. He was fluent in Latin when he graduated from high school. At 20, while majoring in medieval art studies at Wesleyan University, he published a translation of the 6th-century Latin author Venantius Fortunatus.

After graduation, he started a career in risk arbitrage and option trading on Wall Street, has worked for gourmet specialty store Citarella and acted as a provisioner for Dean & DeLuca. Recovering from a serious drug addiction, he changed course and began a new career as a freelance fruit writer.

Karp moved to California in 1999.