Eric G. Porter

July 3, 1920 - March 12, 2016

Eric Gordon Porter was born in Southend on Sea, England on Saturday, July 3, 1920. He died at the age of ninety-five in his own home in Santa Barbara on March 12, 2016.

At age seven he emigrated to New York City with his mother, Nellie, and one year old brother, Gerald, to join their father Tom. After high school he studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, only to have life interrupted by the War. When he volunteered in the army, he was thus assigned to the cryptography unit, first on Governors Island in New York, later in London. There he was awarded the Silver Star medal for decoding a German message locating a Nazi fuel dump, just what General George Patton desperately needed for his armored drive across Germany after the Normandy invasion.

In 1946, he joined his family in Los Angeles, then studied electrical engineering at the University of California in Berkeley, where he met Veda, the woman he would love and adore for the next 62 years.

In the following few years, his two children were born and Eric landed an engineering job in Santa Barbara. He didn't spend too long working the 9-5 before he became disillusioned with the rat race and turned his attention to investing in real estate and commercial property.

In 1975, after a dream that Veda had, he managed to procure what is now the Cliff House Inn. The hotel soon became a family venture and, in the end, Eric's legacy and pride. Stocks and commodities became his love and he pursued the market with passion.

Eric will be remembered for his wry and quick wit, his brilliant mind, and as a self-made man who never hesitated to go after what he wanted. He is survived by his two children, Michele and Sandy, and his five grand children Nadirah, Aute, Naren, Thomas and Hére.

No service has been planned. Remembrances can be sent to Santa Barbara Food Bank or the Jodi House.