Bob Blanchard (1938-2008)

Former Santa Rosa Mayor Bob Blanchard died early Saturday, 17 days after the genial and upbeat ex-soldier, lawman and educator resigned from his highly public role on the City Council to wage a very private battle with the final stages of cancer.

With his death at his Santa Rosa home at 70, the city lost a leader who tirelessly promoted the community despite a three-year struggle with the disease that sapped his strength but not his spirit.

Councilwoman Sue Gorin said Blanchard?s love for the city and the pride he had in representing it was clear.

?He radiated fun and enjoyment, and he?s been a wonderful cheerleader for the city,? she said.

Blanchard was devoted to public service in almost three decades at Sant Rosa Junior College serving as a teacher to future law enforcement officers and students of government and a 14-year tenure on the city planning commission and then in elected office as a Council member.

?One thing that Bob did better than anybody was open doors for people,? said longtime friend and Rotary Club colleague Jim Wieschendorff.

Blanchard was commonly the most enthused and energetic person in the room ? even a room full of the teens with whom he loved to engage.

?He really was like a kid,? said Julee Cole, who runs Tomorrow?s Leaders Today, a leadership program for Sonoma County high school juniors. She counted on Blanchard to meet with students of each TLT class and instruct them on the finer points of schmoozing.

Blanchard, a Christian Scientist, downplayed his disease and declined to discuss it publicly after he revealed the diagnosis in mid-2005.

Despite surgery, hormone therapy and six months of chemotherapy that gave the already rail-thin Blanchard a frailer appearance, he remained upbeat, quick to laugh and continued to display his all-out passion for his elected duties.

It comforted colleagues and friends to know that he could find at least a glimmer of humor in any situation.

The council?s Jane Bender and John Sawyer said they remember times, even quite bleak ones, when Blanchard would pop off a quip and then laugh so hard he?d cry.

?I was never sure what was funnier, what he?d said, or the way he appreciated his own humor,? Bender said.

Blanchard had served eight years on the city?s Planning Commission when Santa Rosa voters elected him to the City Council in 2002. His council colleagues elected him mayor in 2006.

People who knew him through multiple stages of his evolution to the office of the mayor said that throughout, he was always the same Blanchard: Encouraging, engaging and expectant.

?He was no different when he was a cheerleader for SRJC,? said the Robert Agrella, the junior college?s president.

Blanchard might have been a peace officer all his life had he not acted on his passion for teaching and community leadership. He served as an Army paratrooper and following his honorable discharge hired on with the Riverside County Sheriff?s Office, at age 22, as a deputy sheriff in 1960.

Within three years he was also teaching a variety of courses ? criminal justice, political science, sociology ? at Riverside Community College. By 1978 he had given up his badge and gun, earned a doctorate in government at Claremont Graduate School and been named director of the Riverside college?s Administration of Justice Department.

For a time he also directly influenced police officer training throughout Northern California as director of the regional Criminal Justice Training and Education Center.

He and his wife, Angelyn, moved to Santa Rosa when SRJC hired him as director of the public safety academy at Los Guilucos in 1981. For four years he expanded the academy and increased the professionalism of the future police officers who trained there, said SRJC?s Agrella.

Gary Negri, an acting captain with the Santa Rosa Police Department, recalled first meeting and being mentored by Blanchard at the Los Guilucos center more than 20 years ago.

?He was always the same all the years I knew him: elegant, well-spoken and accessible,? Negri said.

Blanchard left the academy in 1985 when he was promoted to assistant dean of the JC?s Liberal Arts Department. He served as dean of Occupational Education from 1989 to 1992, when he returned to teaching full-time.

Though he retired a decade ago as a regular faculty member, he continued on as as an adjunct instructor.

He joined the Santa Rosa East Rotary Club in 1986 and soon was taking leading roles in myriad community service projects and campaigns. It was Blanchard?s idea for Santa Rosa?s Rotary and Kiwanis clubs to unite and jointly sponsor an annual tribute luncheon for veterans.

?He wore many hats in this town,? fellow Rotary member Wieschendorff said. ?He was the spark that kept our club alive in a time of dire financial difficulty,? Wieschendorff said. He said he quickly saw that Blanchard the Rotarian was a master at improving an organization by recognizing what individuals are capable of and rallying them to meet their potential.