High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! David L. "Dave" Pearce (September 8, 1904—May 28, 1984) was a Democrat who served as the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry from 1952–1956 and again from 1960-1976. Pearce, who was allied with anti-Long elements in the state, was defeated in the Democratic primary after a single term as agriculture commissioner in 1956 by the Longite entomologist Sidney McCrory (1891–1966) of Ascension Parish. However, Pearce regained the post in 1960 and then lost it again in Louisiana`s first-ever nonpartisan blanket primary in 1975 to a fellow Democrat, Gilbert L. "Gil" Dozier. He also failed in a 1979 campaign to regain the office.