Theodore Donald Morgan

Theodore Donald Morgan
August 31, 2025
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Theodore (Ted) Donald Morgan, 83, of Santa Rosa, CA, on August 31, 2025, after complications from heart surgery. Ted was born in 1942 in Phoenix, AZ, to Madeline and Theodore Morgan. He moved to California at age 13 with his grandparents, where he became a foster child of Fred and Lucille Norton. During his teenage years, Ted attended Clayton Valley High School in Concord, where he joined the Civil Air Patrol. As Captain Commander of Civil Air Patrol Squadron 88, Ted developed a love and passion for flying airplanes. At 18, he earned a private pilot's license and began ferrying airplanes across the country while working full-time at Fry's Foods Grocery Store and going to college. At 19, he married Carol Pelmas. During their marriage, Ted and Carol had two daughters, Stephanie and Christine, of whom he was very proud.
Ted dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot, and after completing his Bachelor's Degree at California State Hayward with a major in Business, he applied to the U.S. Air Force. Although his vision did not allow him to pursue flying as a career, he continued to fly for pleasure throughout his life, owning several airplanes, including a Mooney Executive and a Cessna 206. As a member of the Concord Valley Pilots Flying Club, he had many adventures, flying throughout Baja before there were paved roads or landing strips.
Ted's career in business began at Xerox Corporation. During his fourteen years with Xerox, Ted started as a Sales Executive in Oakland. He moved to Santa Rosa after being promoted to Sales Area Manager for Northern California, where he provided guidance and support to a young, enthusiastic marketing team. He met and married his current wife, Heidi, in Santa Rosa.
After leaving Xerox, Ted became a serial entrepreneur, using his vision and knowledge of sound business practices to found several companies. As Chairman, President, and CEO of USI Computer Products Accessory Division and Human Engineered Software in the 1980s, Ted secured funding from investors, including Microsoft, in the early years of the Commodore Computer. He applied his office products knowledge to found Office Club, which merged with Office Depot in 1991. He then founded another warehouse club for the medical/dental field called Medchoice.
In Ted's next venture, as Chairman, President, and CEO of U.S. Electricar, he secured funding from Japanese investor Itochu and secured contracts with the U.S. government, Ford, and General Motors, as well as joint ventures with Proton Automotive in Malaysia. At that time, Electricar was the largest full-size electric vehicle manufacturer in the U.S, alas, much ahead of its time.
Capitalizing on his ability to raise funds and provide expertise to start-up businesses, Ted founded his own merchant banking company. In this capacity, he served on the board of directors or as an advisor to companies around the world, assisting with raising capital, mergers, and acquisitions. Ted's consulting work took him around the world, where he became a member of the Million Mile Club with United Airlines. He developed long-lasting friendships with many business partners in India and enjoyed meeting Prime Ministers from several countries. Young entrepreneurs sought out Ted's guidance and expertise to create new enterprises and resolve financial challenges. As Interim CEO for Levity Medical Products, Ted continued consulting and advising until the day before his heart surgery.
Ted and Heidi loved to travel and had wonderful adventures in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Mexico, Canada, and many other locales. A favorite destination was the Hawaiian Islands, where they purchased property on Molokai, and, later, Kauai. They loved the tropical climate and aloha spirit of the islands, and made several trips to the islands every year since 1985.
One of Ted's passions was creating and monitoring the growth of his garden at their home in the hills above Santa Rosa on Wildwood Mountain Road. Ted loved to walk the property, inspecting the vegetable garden, fruit orchard, and foliage around the house. In recent years, Ted and Heidi moved to Oakmont, where they made many new friends and continued to host family holiday dinners each year.
Ted overcame a challenging childhood and was an extremely hard worker and a natural leader. He was a visionary, creative, optimistic, brilliant, consummate mediator, kind, loving, passionate about flying and Hawaii, and he dearly loved and was proud of his family. He is survived by Heidi, his loving wife of 47 years; and beloved daughters, Stephanie Morgan-Russell (Stephen) and Christine Morgan; and grandchildren, Mary Russell, Teddy Russell, Greta Koslosky, and John Koslosky; brother, Mike (Pat); sister-in-law, Nancy Royster; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A celebration of life will be held on November 1 at 2:30 p.m. in Oakmont. For details, please contact Heidi at tedmorganmemorialservice@gmail.com.
Donations in his memory may be made to National Tropical Botanical Gardens: https://ntbg.org/support/donate/.
Or the Civil Air Patrol: https://development.gocivilairpatrol.com/np/clients/gocivilairpatrol/donation.jsp.