Daniel Hector Asturias

1946 - 2020

Daniel Hector Asturias
April 11, 1946 ~ June 30, 2020
Resident of Aptos
On June 30, 2020, Daniel Hector Asturias died in his home in Aptos, California. Dan was born in San Mateo, California on April 11, 1946—one of seven children born to Patricia Waltz Asturias and Hector Asturias. Dan was preceded in death by his parents, his younger brother Joseph Asturias, and his wife, best friend, and partner of more than 50 years, Phyllis.
Dan grew up in Menlo Park, California and entered the Jesuits at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos after graduating from Saint Francis High School in 1964. He completed his first two years of college at Loyola University in Los Angeles before earning his B.A. in Philosophy at Santa Clara University, where he met Phyllis—a relationship that soon caught the attention of his Jesuit superiors. He left the order in 1968, returning home to San Mateo with his trunk and a surprised little sister greeting him at the door.
In 1970, he and Phyllis married and began building a family together. Dan joined the Army Reserves during the Vietnam War, avoiding deployment but not the impact of the war on their friends, family, and nation. In 1974, Dan completed his J.D. at Santa Clara University School of Law and, in 1975, he and Phyllis moved with their two children to Merced. Dan served the community of Merced as an attorney for more than 30 years, first in a general civil practice and later primarily representing injured workers in workers' compensation claims.
In the 1990s, Dan completed studies in art at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. As an artist, Dan had a gift for seeing and capturing the humanity of his subjects and evoking emotion in his audience. He was more interested in the emotion of a painting than in the technique, but never stopped being a student of his craft. He believed one should never stop growing and changing, either in art or in life.
In 2005, Dan and Phyllis moved to Santa Cruz County and Dan began his tenure as a judge with the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. He served as presiding judge in both San Jose and Salinas.
Dan's Jesuit training shaped his life and taught him to live as a "contemplative in action," which he understood as a call to live out the Jesuit teachings of service and compassion in the world. Dan was kind, decent, and courageous. He was a counselor and friend to the underrepresented, and before his death was actively pursuing new ways to be of service to his community. He was generous with his time and talents and always willing to help someone in need—never with judgment or any expectation of return. He was deeply humanist and treated others with respect, no matter their status or station. He loved to share his paella or a pot roast over animated conversation with family and friends. He is deeply missed by many.
Dan is survived by his siblings, Toni Talbott, Kelly Givens, Terri Wilson, Mary Asturias, and Mike Asturias, his children, Maria Asturias and Thomas Asturias, his daughter-in-law Laura Asturias and his grandchildren, Alexander Thomas Asturias and Addison Jo Sperry.
The family held a small gathering in July 2020, and plans to hold a larger celebration of Dan's life and an auction of his artwork for charity in Spring/Summer 2021, when we can more safely gather. In the meantime, in Dan and Phyllis's memory, the family asks that you vote like our democracy depends on it.


View the online memorial for Daniel Hector Asturias