David Bloom was born in Edina, Minnesota, and was an avid ice hockey player and state champion in high school debating in the National Forensic League. Bloom attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California, from 1981 to 1985 where he was a national debate champion. He majored in political science.  Bloom was survived by his wife, Melanie, and three daughters: Nicole, Christine, and Ava. The Blooms were residents of Pound Ridge, New York, at the time of his death. After his death, Melanie started working with the Coalition to Prevent DVT.  He began his television career at WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wisconsin, covering local government stories. Bloom worked as a general assignment reporter at KWCH-TV in Wichita, Kansas, from 1988–1989.  In 1991, Bloom joined WTVJ in Miami. He covered Hurricane Andrew and while reporting the aftermath he chased off would-be looters. In 1991, he won a regional Emmy for investigative journalism for his report on South Florida’s role in the shipment of arms to Iraq. He won both the Peabody Award and the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for his hurricane coverage.  In 1993, Bloom joined NBC News as correspondent in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1995. Bloom later became NBC’s White House correspondent. In 1999, Bloom was named co-anchor of Weekend Today along with Soledad O’Brien, a position he served until his death.

Bloom’s name was pegged to a vehicle he used in Iraq, the “Bloom Mobile.” It was a Ford F250 4 wheel drive Flatbed truck with a SeaTel stabilized marine dish retrofitted by Miramar, Florida-based company Maritime Telecommunications Network, with live television and satellite transmission equipment so he could continuously broadcast reports as troops made their way toward Baghdad.  Bloom was traveling with the U.S. Third Infantry Division in Iraq when he suddenly died due to pulmonary embolism after a deep vein thrombosis.