Philip Laurence Williams

1927 - 2015

Philip Laurence Williams
April 19, 1927 - May 11, 2015
Resident of Palo Alto
Philip Laurence Williams passed away in his home at the age of 88 early Monday morning, May 11th, after a brief illness. He was born in Palo Alto and spent most of his youth in Oakland and Berkeley. After finishing up his high school at Menlo College, he attended Stanford University and graduated in 1949 with a BS in Industrial Engineering. While at Stanford he became a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1951. In the summer of 1950 he met the love of his life, Anna Jean Ellsworth of Deer Lodge, MT, while they were both working at a soda fountain in Yellowstone Park. After knowing each other only 12 days, they became engaged and were married three months later on Sept. 2nd. Phil began his career as General Manager at a company formed by his father, Philip Samuel Williams, and Dr. Oliver Johnson in 1928. The company, Johnson-Williams Instruments, was based in Palo Alto, manufactured gas detectors (the "J-W Sniffer" was trademarked) and has since been recognized as the first electronics company in Silicon Valley. Following his time at Johnson-Williams, Phil decided to pursue teaching and received his credential from San Jose State in 1967. He taught accounting for 26 years at City College of San Francisco before retiring in 1994. Phil had a love of jazz that started in his youth, enjoyed playing the piano, and was an avid Stanford football fan. He loved to travel up to Yosemite with his wife, as well as to Disneyland with his grandchildren. He is survived by his wife of almost 65 years, Jean, his brother Robert W. Williams (Erika) of Seattle, his children, Don Williams (Suzanne) of Milpitas, Anne Santiago of Alameda, Gregg Williams (Barbara) of Sunnyvale and grandchildren, Kristina Reynolds (Soren) of Alameda, Katherine and Danielle Williams of Milpitas, Robert Kim (Melanie) of San Jose and great grandchildren, Liliana Gonzalez and Jackson Reynolds, of Alameda.
Private interment took place on Friday, June 12th, at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto with family present.
A Celebration of Life Mass will be held Saturday, June 27th, at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, 3233 Cowper Street, Palo Alto.