Hundreds pay tribute to Mayor Blanchard

About 300 people gathered Tuesday at Santa Rosa City Hall to pay tribute to Mayor Bob Blanchard, remembering him as an enthusiastic civic leader and community cheerleader.

"We salute him today in gratitude and love," said Councilman John Sawyer.

Blanchard died of cancer Saturday. He was 70.

Local leaders, including Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua, Police Chief Ed Flint, Petaluma Mayor Pamela Torliatt and Rohnert Park City Council members, honored Blanchard at the start of Tuesday's City Council meeting.

"He was simple, approachable, with a warm joviality," said Dan Flock of the city's Cultural Heritage Board. "He was extremely approachable, even in the thorniest of circumstances."

Representatives from myriad communities, commissions, agencies and associations eulogized Blanchard with remembrances both poignant and humorous.

Nancy Wong, president of the Redwood Empire Chinese Association, said that when she traveled with Blanchard to China on a Sister Cities trip, he had a special request.

"He wanted to see the water treatment plant, to compare," Wong said.

Others also remembered Blanchard's cheerfully competitive spirit, but it was his role as a mentor to dozens of community leaders that speakers recalled most fondly.

"I was always amazed at his ability to move in and out of circles of people," Sawyer said. "He was a friend and a colleague and a mentor, a counselor, one of the most humorous, elegant, dignified, honorable men I will ever have the pleasure of knowing."

Blanchard, a long-time educator at Santa Rosa Junior College, was elected to the City Council in 2002 after serving on the Planning Commission for eight years.

He revealed he was battling cancer in 2005.

Blanchard's children, Cameron and Matt Blanchard, attended Tuesday's event, collecting the plaques, proclamations, photos and certificates that cities and organizations had prepared for the family in recognition of his service to Sonoma County.

Cameron Blanchard said among the last words her father shared was to insist that whatever service was held in his memory, "make sure they don't blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

"He wanted people to tell funny stories," she said, as she rose to thank the dozens of speakers among the several hundred who gathered to honor her father for doing just that.

"As we continue to remember him, continue to laugh and joke," she said. "That's what he would have wanted."

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.

com. Staff Writer Mike McCoy contributed to this report.