Jay Colangelo

COLANGELO, Jay
Born on July 17, 1953 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He grew up in Orange County, California spending countless summer days body-surfing at Huntington Beach. A USC alumni, he attended Hastings Law School where he met his future wife, Lynn. He viewed the law as a powerful means to ensure that the rights of everyone in our society are protected, particularly the downtrodden and despised, and the practice of criminal law was his passion as well as his career. A relentless opponent of the death penalty, he spent the last 15 years as a deputy state public defender representing clients on death row. Jay's other passion was his family; he loved watching and coaching each of his four children in their chosen sports and ran the St. John's Soccer Club for many years. He was an honorable and kind and decent man who touched everyone he met. He is survived by his wife, Lynn; his four children, Carye, Joey, David and Brie; his sisters, Sue and Joy (his twin); his brother, Jim; his mother, Shirley; his mother-in-law, Martha; and sister and brothers-in-law, Gayle, Mark, Ralph, Brian and Britt; and many nieces and nephews and cousins and friends. We know of no one more courageous than Jay, who chose to live a life of meaning, filled with love and laughter and music in the face of his 19-year battle with cancer. Memorial services will be held on Wed., February 25, at 11am at Lind Brothers Mortuary, 4221 Manzanita Avenue, Carmichael, CA 95608. For those wishing to remember Jay, the family requests that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Organization International, P.O. Box 15482, San Diego, CA 92175-6482.