Frank W T La Haye

1929 - 2019

Frank W T La Haye
April 7, 1929 - April 21, 2019
Aptos
Frank William Theophile La Haye, beloved father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend, passed away peacefully at the age of 90 at home on Easter Sunday morning, April 21, 2019, in Aptos, California. He was surrounded by loving family and friends.
Frank was born in San Francisco to Frank William La Haye and Kathryn Munsey La Haye on April 7, 1929, where he lived until age 8. The family spent summers in Sonoma and then relocated to the Sonoma area in 1937, where his father established the La Haye Metal Works on East Napa Street. Frank was an accomplished athlete who graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 1947 and went on to attend Stanford University where he met and married Sally Anderson in 1951. By the time Frank graduated from Stanford in 1954 with a BS degree in Metallurgical Engineering, he had moved the family to Hollister, California, and was the Vice President of the McCormick Selph explosives company where he invented parts used widely in the aerospace industry. In 1961 the family moved to Aptos, California where Frank returned to live in later years after having spent years living in Los Angeles and the Cupertino area.
Frank was an avid sailor from an early age and took his family and friends on many wonderful sailing adventures around the world. He had a keen interest in the arts and in technology and loved to learn all that he could and then teach others both by example and by careful explanation. His artistic pursuits included some sculpting, bronze casting and collaborating on the" Mud Muse" for an Art and Technology exhibition in Los Angeles.
Frank was also an energetic businessman and entrepreneur who was the president or director of many companies including several that he established. He was a director at Franklin Templeton from 1960 until 2011 and cofounded Peregrine Ventures in Cupertino in 1981. Frank began to manage the La Haye Metal Works in Sonoma in about 1970 and then reorganized it as La Haye Bronze and moved the business to Southern California in 1976. In the following 3 years he and Sally redeveloped the foundry property on Napa Street as the La Haye Art Center with retail space, including a restaurant, and artist studios.
After winding down some, but not all, of his business responsibilities by the late 1990's, Frank was able to devote more time to sailing and other travels as well as philanthropic activities. These included trips with friends and sailing buddies, full family trips and very special Grandpa (who preferred to be called Poncho) trips with each grandchild when they turned 13.
Frank was always ready to help family and friends with any challenges they faced. He was wise, kind and generous with a great sense of humor and will be dearly missed by all that loved him so much.
He is survived by his longtime friend and companion Cynthia Bartlett, his children Laura (John) Bilson of Chicago, Brian (Fereshteh) La Haye of Aptos, and Barney (Bonnie) La Haye of Sonoma, as well as eight grandchildren Monica (Mike), Donya, Gil (Steph), Sarah (Jesse), Liz, Reuben, Buster and Eugene and 4 great grandchildren.
The family is planning a memorial service for later in June and requests that, in lieu of flowers, you make a donation to the charity of your choice.


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