Coyle Anthony "Tony" Boyd

1939 - 2020

Coyle Anthony "Tony" Boyd Coyle Anthony "Tony" Boyd, 80, passed away on April 22, 2020 at his home in San Luis Obispo, surrounded by his family. A loving husband, father and grandfather, Tony was born in 1939 in Jamestown, New York to Coyle and Harriette Boyd (Johnson). The eldest of five Scots-Irish brothers, Tony was raised on a family farm in upstate New York, where he hunted, fished, worked with horses and harvested maple syrup. In the early 1950s the Boyds joined the great post-war migration westward, settling in tiny Monrovia, California, where Tony milked cows at the Alta-Dena Dairy, ran cross-country at Monrovia High School and graduated in 1958. Tony studied civil engineering at UC Berkeley, where he joined the Army ROTC, pledged Sigma Nu fraternity and became engaged to Meredith Fry, daughter of legendary Cal football coach Wes Fry. Immediately after graduation Tony was commissioned as an army lieutenant and deployed directly to Florida as a missileer during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tony and Meredith married November 7, 1964, and Tony was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1965. The Boyds moved to San Luis Obispo in 1967, when Tony was recruited by the County Department of Engineering (now, Public Works) as a civil engineer. In 1976 Tony left county government for the private sector and founded Boyd Construction, Inc. In 1984 he served as Project Coordinator (including high-level national-security clearance) for a multi-billion dollar international joint venture installing jet fuel tanks on Guam's Andersen Air Force Base. Tony returned to SLO County Public Works in the 1990s, retired from the county in 2000, and finished his career with Wallace Group Engineering. Tony's handprint as builder-engineer is all over the Central Coast, including the world-famous Big Sur Highway's first bike lanes, the County animal shelter on Highway One, the Pismo Beach Water Treatment Plant, and a genuinely death-defying seawall at big-wave surfing's Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz. When not working, Tony was an accomplished outdoorsman, triathlete and community servant. A longtime member of the Sierra Club, he led local SLO Boy Scouts (Troop 2) into the wilderness at Philmont Scout Ranch (New Mexico) and dedicated hundreds of hours to improving the Camp Fire Girls' facility at Camp Natoma. He was Branch President of the American Society of Civil Engineers and served on the Board of Directors of Friends of the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. Notably, he competed in the SLO Triathlon nearly every year between 1988 and 2017. Tony is survived by his devoted wife, Meredith F. Boyd; son Tony Boyd (Amy), daughters Frances Anne Reinosa (Juan) and Laura Sanchez (David); brothers Milton, Tim, Bill and Tom Boyd; and grandchildren Brydon (26), CJ (20), Davey (18), Danya (17), Lucy (16), Joaquin (12), Johann (9), Nakoa (9) and Federico (8). Memorial contributions in Tony's name may be made to the San Luis Obispo Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers. A celebration of life will be scheduled once the current social restrictions have been lifted.