Erik S. de Lambert

Erik (Ollie) S. de Lambert

12/28/35 - 6/29/13

After a long struggle following surgery for a brain tumor, Erik de Lambert passed away on June 29, 2013, in Santa Barbara, California.

Erik was born in Charlottenberg, Sweden, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1949 with his parents, Astrid and Sven, and three siblings, Ben, Sonja and Christina. They settled in Santa Barbara, California, where Erik attended Santa Barbara High School. Erik left school at the age of 16 and travelled across the U.S. and back. He then joined the Marine Corps and served in the Korean War as a cartographer. It was during the war that he became a U.S. citizen, a requirement of the classified nature of his work.

In 1956 he married Pat Bowden. They had two children, Deborah de Lambert and Diana de Lambert White. After he and Pat divorced, Erik moved to San Francisco, where he met Forrest Litchfield, who he married in 1967.

Erik was a man of many talents and interests, as evidenced by the many jobs he had in his life. Among other things, he worked as a meat salesman, a Santa Barbara police officer, doing lighting at the Condor nightclub, maître d' at the Nob Hill Dining Room at the Mark Hopkins hotel, and a commercial photographer. He found his true calling, however, when he took over a city owned golf course near McLaren Park in San Francisco. Renaming it Gleneagles, after the famous Scottish course, and completely redesigning the course, Erik created a first rate nine-hole golf course, that became renowned as one of the best public courses in the Bay Area.

Erik's love of golf eventually drew him to buy a house in Prestwick, Scotland, where he lived part-time for many years. He spent those years playing all the best courses in Scotland and enjoying the pub life, where a drink and a good story were always on hand. Being a bit restless, Erik relocated to Sweden, where he lived for a few years, before returning to the Bay Area, only to move to Mexico and then, finally, to Grover Beach, CA.

Erik is survived by his sisters, Sonja, Christina, Elizabeth, and Katarina, his wife Forrest, his daughters, Deborah and Diana, his five grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial golf tournament is planned at Gleneagles golf course in San Francisco, the proceeds of which will go to the American Cancer Society. The family requests that donations be made to the Cancer Society in lieu of flowers. Erik's ashes will be interred in the family grave in Arvika, Sweden, in a private ceremony.