Phillip E. Zachary

1934 - 2011

Phillip E. Zachary July 9, 1934 - January 2, 2011 To Phillip Eugene Zachary belonged the highest of tributes: those who knew him the best admired him the most. This remarkable man with a brilliant mind and a servant's heart was welcomed by his beloved Lord Jesus on Sunday morning, January 2, 2011. He was 76 years old. His wife, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren are grieving yet grateful; grateful to be among those whose lives were graced by his unselfish and unconditional love. Although his career took him all the way to Wall Street, Phil's true home was always Shafter, California - the town in which he grew up. Along with his parents Clyde and Opal, and his brother Donald, he spent a happy childhood on the Zachary farm on the outskirts of Shafter. While attending Shafter High School he began dating the young woman who was to become his wife of 56 years - Roberta "Bobbie" Liles. Phil graduated from Shafter High School in 1951. Phil enlisted in the military and served as a paratrooper with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in Beppu, Kyushu, Japan in the early 1950s. A gifted marksman, he also toured as part of the Far East Rifle and Pistol Team. Following his honorable discharge, Phil earned an A.A. from Bakersfield College and a B.S. in Economics with honors in economics from the University of California at Davis. He then joined his father and brother in the Clyde Zachary & Sons farming operation. Although he loved farming, in 1960 he decided he needed to pursue a different career to support his wife and three (soon to be four!) young daughters. Phil's natural intelligence and powerful presence made him a natural in the financial arena; he joined E.F. Hutton Company as an account executive and began the professional journey that would take him all the way to Wall Street in New York City. He became the local manager for E.F Hutton, then the Regional Vice President, in charge of twenty E.F. Hutton offices in Southern California. Unwilling to raise his daughters in the "big city", Phil actually spent years commuting between Los Angeles and Shafter. Although he could be forceful, even intimidating at work, he was never anything but gentle at home. He pitched in happily on every household task and expected his daughters to do the same - and they could never bear to disappoint him. "Many hands make light work," he would always say when it was time to do dishes and (groaning inwardly) they would follow him to the kitchen. Despite his ever-increasing success, Phil never developed a taste for a sophisticated social life. A night at home playing canasta with Bobbie and his parents or his girls always remained his idea of the ultimate evening. In later years, his favorite evening activity was playing pinochle with Leland and Shirley Bell. Soon Phil was the top performing E.F. Hutton Regional V.P. in the country, and the CEO of the financial giant began pressuring him to relocate to the main headquarters in New York City. He made an offer he thought Phil couldn't refuse, but he thought wrong. Phil believed it was better for "Annie Roonie", "Sue Lou", Janie and "Minnie Mouse" to grow up in a small, close-knit community, so that is just what they did. In 1972 Phil left E. F. Hutton to join the Kern County -based Community First Bank, rising to the position of President and CEO and eventually Chairman of the Board. Under his leadership the bank enjoyed unprecedented success. He left the bank in the early 1980's to start his own consulting firm. At this time he and his daughter Susan created revolutionary computer applications for hedging financial futures and trading foreign currencies. Phil was active in various organizations and served on a number of boards for philanthropic organizations, including serving as President of the Richland School Board, on the Teen Challenge Advisory Board, and as President of the Memorial Hospital Foundation. Most important in his eyes were his many years of service on the Board of Elders for the Congregational Church of Shafter. In every single area of his life, as a husband, a father, an employer and an employee, Phil lived his Christian values and inspired many men, both young and not-so-young, to seek to follow his example. In 1987 Phil was recruited by Daiwa Securities, the second-largest securities firm in the world, to run Daiwa Securities-America on Wall Street. Because his daughters were now grown he accepted Daiwa's offer and he and Bobbie spent the next eight years in Manhattan in an apartment he often remarked placed Bobbie far too close to Bloomingdale's. To the great joy of Anne, Susan, Jane and Melinda (who were technically "grown" but who never stopped needing their daddy) and his eighteen grandchildren, Phil retired in 1996 and he and Bobbie returned to Shafter. To the great consternation of Bobbie, he never actually retired at all, instead spending up to sixteen hours a day researching a variety of topics from political trends to Biblical creationism, and becoming an expert in alternative health treatments and preventive medicine and sharing what he learned with an email audience that came to number in the hundreds. So many people came to rely upon his knowledge, his intellect, and his spiritual wisdom and guidance, it was hard to find a time he wasn't bent over his keyboard, ready to respond to questions and often doing special research to help those with special needs. He stayed in faithful contact with his email friends until October, 2010, when the brain disease that ultimately claimed his life (Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease) began to make it more difficult for him. By November he could no longer remember how to use his computer. Though the final months of his life were very difficult, Phil faced every day with courage and kindness, often making jokes when they were least expected. He ran the course; he finished the race and now enjoys the heavenly prize he so thoroughly deserves. Meanwhile those of us who loved him must adjust to a world that can never shine quite as bright without him. If the measure of a man is the measure of the loss felt when he is gone, Phillip Eugene Zachary was truly a giant. He is survived by his wife, Roberta Liles Zachary; daughters, Anne (and husband Ralph) Fruguglietti, Susan (and husband Mike) Mulligan, R. Jane Zachary, and Melinda (and husband Greg) Martin; grandchildren, J.P. (and wife Ashley) Fruguglietti, Anthony (and wife Ashley) Fruguglietti, Katina (and husband Jesse) Esposito, Theresa Fruguglietti, Katy Lindgren, Mackenzie Mulligan, Oliver Mulligan, Kaley Mulligan, Kristina Mulligan, Jacob Mulligan, Phillip Mulligan, Fernando Mulligan, Cameron Giles, Zachary Colbert, Rachel Colbert, Macdonald Colbert, Andrew Martin, Roberta Martin, Caroline Martin and Luke Martin. In addition he is survived by great-granddaughter, Sofie Grace Fruguglietti, sister-in-law Ferrelene Zachary, cousin Patricia Smith and numerous beloved nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at the Congregational Bible Church of Shafter (430 East Tulare Avenue, Shafter) on Saturday, January 8th, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. A Graveside Service will be held at Shafter Memorial Park at 10:00 a.m. There will be no visitation. Memorial donations may be made to the Congregational Bible Church of Shafter (430 East Tulare Avenue, Shafter, CA 93263) or Teen Challenge (P.O. Box 1011, Bakersfield, CA 93302). There is an online guest book available at GoldenValleyMemorialCare.com. Peters Funeral Home - Shafter www.bakersfield.com/obits