Guy Blase, optimist, friendly

to everyone

CO-FOUNDER OF PALO ALTOLAW FIRM LED ACTIVE CIVIC LIFE    

A memorial service will be today for Guy Blase, charismatic co-founder of a Palo Alto law firm, avid sportsman and civic volunteer who was a key fundraiser for the planned Opportunity Center for the homeless in Palo Alto.

Mr. Blase died Saturday at his Palo Alto home of prostate cancer. He was 73.

Mr. Blase was known among friends and family as an optimist and bon vivant, brimming with enthusiasm about life and constantly making new friends.

``Guy was a man who sang in the shower every morning,'' recalled his wife, Bobbi Blase. ``He really made lemonade out of lemons. He was so excited and interested in everything, and so friendly with everyone. He was a very exuberant, positive, happy kind of person. A friend called him Mr. Happy. He always had a smile on his face.''

Mr. Blase was a former naval officer who served during the Korean War, a Stanford Law School graduate and longtime Portola Valley resident. In 1965, he co-founded the law firm of Spaeth, Blase, Valentine and Klein in Palo Alto. The firm now is called Ritchie, Fisher, Whitman and Klein. He also helped form the Santa Clara County Bar Association.

He also was a horseman who loved playing polo and riding trails. He was an avid golfer who played every day at Stanford Golf Course.

Known for having boundless energy and drive to serve his community, Mr. Blase served on many boards and commissions, including many at his alma mater, Stanford University. He was a member of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Stanford Center for Conflict and Negotiation and the Stanford Associates. He was a board member for the Children's Health Council at Stanford, an organization helping children and adolescents with behavioral and developmental problems.

His latest major project was helping establish the Opportunity Center of the Midpeninsula, which will provide housing and services for about 600 homeless people. He helped with fundraising drives, which so far have generated more than $1.8 million in individual

donations. Opportunity Center officials have told family members that the housing units will be named after Mr. Blase.

Mr. Blase was born in St. Louis in 1929. He earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in the early 1950s. He then served as a Navy lieutenant on the USS Hamner from 1952 until the war ended in 1953. He met his future wife, Noel Mirandon of La Jolla, at a Navy-sponsored New Year's Eve party after the war, and they were married in 1954. The couple settled in Portola Valley and raised their two daughters, Cece and Leslie, before moving to Palo Alto in 1986.

Mr. Blase received his law degree from Stanford University in 1958, and worked for several law firms before he formed his own law partnership in 1965. In Portola Valley, he served on the fire commission and the Mounted Patrol, which helped with search and rescue operations on horseback, and enjoyed taking long trail rides with the Los Rancheros Visitadores, a club that takes yearly trail rides with rodeo activities.

Noel Blase died in 1994 after an illness. He met his second wife, Bobbi, in 1995 and they were married in 1997.

Former Palo Alto Mayor Larry Klein, who joined Mr. Blase's law firm two years after it was formed, remembered him as an ``eternal optimist.''

``Guy was a very high-energy person, always upbeat and fun to be around,'' Klein said. ``He was enthusiastic about whatever he was doing out to his last days. He was an inspiration to be around.''

Guy Blase

Born: Sept. 3, 1929, in St. Louis

Died: July 5, 2003, in Palo Alto

Survived by: His wife, Bobbi, of Palo Alto; two daughters, Cece Blase of Alameda and Leslie Lodestro of Los Altos; a sister, Joan Goodson of St. Louis; and four grandchildren.

Memorial: Donations may be made to the Community Working Group for the Opportunity Center of the Midpeninsula, 555 Bryant St., PMB No. 321, Palo Alto, Calif. 94301.