Guy Blase -- Force Behind Peninsula Homeless Center

Guy Blase was a man of relentless optimism and fiery drive -- and the Peninsula community is better for it.

The retired Palo Alto lawyer wasn't about to let a three-year battle with terminal cancer derail his fund-raising drive for the $23.5 million Opportunity Center, a groundbreaking Palo Alto development that will combat homelessness by providing affordable housing and support services.

He lobbied prospective donors from his wheelchair on good days and solicited people at his home or via the phone on bad days.

"He was working with the fund-raising campaign actively until the last weeks of his life," said the Rev. David Mann, head of Peninsula Interfaith Action, an alliance of religious congregations that honored Mr. Blase with a "Community Hero" award for his work this spring. "He just had a tremendous dedication and vision for helping the homeless. It wasn't as much about giving back to the community as just righting a wrong."

Today, Mr. Blase, who was 73 when he died of prostate cancer at his home Saturday, will be honored by his many friends and loved ones during an 11 a.m. service at Stanford Memorial Church. A reception celebrating his life will follow at his home.

A native of the St. Louis suburb of Glendale, Mo., Mr. Blase won admiration for his infectious enthusiasm and lightning wit from the start.

He was voted "most popular" in his high school class before heading off to attend Northwestern University. Drafted in the Korean War, he served as a Navy lieutenant, junior grade, aboard the destroyer Hamner.

After the war, Mr. Blase went west to California, where his life took root. He married Noel Mirandon in La Jolla (San Diego County) and graduated from Stanford Law School in 1958. The couple settled in Portola Valley and began raising a family. Mr. Blase served as town fire commissioner and helped launch the Portola Valley Polo Club.

Mr. Blase was a founding partner in the Palo Alto law firm of Spaeth Blase Valentine & Klein (now Ritchey Fisher Whitman & Klein).

"He was a man of remarkable integrity and character who excited a lot of respect and admiration in whatever endeavor he took on," said Leo Ware, a longtime friend and fellow attorney. Friends most often recall him simply as fun to be around.

"He was a spirited guy with a very infectious and engaging laugh," Ware said.

Never one to take himself seriously, the corporate attorney liked to say: "I made my living writing letters."

His passions weren't limited to the law. A devoted horseman, Mr. Blase belonged to Los Rancheros Visitadores, the prestigious Santa Barbara "men's riding and drinking club" as his daughter, Leslie Lodestro, described it. He also rode with the local Mounted Patrol.

After the death of his first wife, Noel, in 1994, Mr. Blase married Bobbi Linkletter three years later. The newlyweds shared a love of art, touring museums from Berlin to Pittsburgh.

For the last four years, Mr. Blase invested much of his energy and longtime ties with local elected and business leaders to making the Opportunity Center for the homeless a reality. As the fund-raising co-chair for the Community Working Group, a coalition spearheading the project, he was instrumental in helping raise the initial $1.8 million of the $8 million required from private donors.

It began when Mr. Blase buttonholed the head of the Peninsula Community Foundation at a 1999 breakfast meeting. "That led within days to a $250,000 donation, and the Opportunity Center had legs from that day forward," Mann recalled.

Colleagues say Mr. Blase's dauntless spirit helped keep the project alive. It's expected to break ground next year.

"While he was feeling pretty awful and must have been in pain a lot of the time, he still maintained his great spirits and was loaded with suggestions," said fund-raising co-chair Larry Brown. "He was the kind of guy who just assumed that we would make it happen. It wasn't a question of whether we would raise the money, but when."

Mr. Blase is survived by his wife, Bobbi; two daughters, Cece Blase of Alameda and Leslie Lodestro of Los Altos; a sister, Joan Goodson of St. Louis; and three grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Opportunity Center, in care of the Community Working Group, 555 Bryant St., PMB #321, Palo Alto, CA 94301.