NOTABLE PASSINGS

JOEY BISHOP, 89

The last surviving member of the Rat Pack that included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr., longtime Lido Island resident Joey Bishop died Oct. 17 of natural causes at his Newport Beach home.

Bishop was known as a father figure and role model to many in the community, often entertaining friends and neighbors at his home.

Rabbi Reuven Mintz of Chabad Jewish Center in Newport Beach was a close friend of Bishop’s and said the comedian never forgot his humble beginnings.

“He would say, ‘I just thank God for all I have been given.’

“Joey was a wonderful man. His life was solely to bring a smile of happiness and a laugh to people,” Mintz said.

Until the last year of his life, Bishop would take daily walks on the street in his Newport Beach neighborhood.

He was also a member and former governor of the Balboa Bay Club.

President Henry Schielein said, “Along with John Wayne, he was one of the pillars of the Balboa Bay Club. He was a very funny guy and he’s going to be greatly missed.”

John Crean, 81

John Crean built one of the most profitable enterprises in the history of Newport Beach, but he hardly thought of himself as a bureaucrat.

“He once said to me, ‘Offices, I can’t understand what people do in offices,’ in terms of running a company,” his longtime friend Tom Fuentes said. “Because for him, the company was the manufacturing, was people producing, was people working — not people sitting around pushing papers behind mahogany desks.”

It didn’t take much to get Crean out from behind a desk. In the half-century after he founded the motor home company Fleetwood Enterprises, he won a reputation as one of the region’s most generous philanthropists, donating millions of dollars to the Crystal Cathedral, Discovery Science Center, Balboa Performing Arts Theater and the Donna and John Crean Mariners Branch Library, which opened a few months before his death.

From early in life, Crean developed a knack for doing things his own way. He was kicked out of two junior high schools and later dropped out of both high school and college. Even as he won a reputation as a tough and innovative businessman, however, he always placed charity high on his list of priorities. In 1954, when his motor home business was just getting off the ground, Crean began giving 10% of its proceeds to an Anaheim Lutheran church.

Crean, who died in January at the age of 81, became famous in later years for co-hosting the cable cooking show “At Home on the Range.” His co-host, Barbara Venezia, said after his death that Crean wasn’t much of a cook, but his enthusiasm and humor kept the show alive.

“He wasn’t very good at it, but that did not stop him, and he used to say to me that 99% of success is just showing up,” she said.

JOSEPH DAILEY, 90

A decorated Marine who rose to the rank of Sergeant Major, the highest ranking an enlisted person can achieve, Joseph Dailey died July 5 of natural causes.

Dailey served in World War II, where he was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry of action in the battle of Okinawa.

For service during the Korean War he earned the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. The Navy Cross is the second most prestigious award given for heroic action in combat. When he served in Vietnam he was promoted to Sergeant Major.

Art Davis, 73

For 21 years, OCC students were lucky enough to be educated by one of jazz’s premier musicians. Art Davis, considered one of the world’s greatest double bassists, died July 29 of a heart attack in his Long Beach home.

Davis taught OCC’s “History of Jazz” class for more than 20 years and also taught “ear training” and “rhythm studies” at the school. Davis arrived at OCC in 1986 after teaching in New York for 15 years. He appeared in a number of jazz and classical concerts on OCC’s stage.

A composer, musician and writer, Davis won six American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards over the years. His most recent award came in 2005. Davis was a classically trained bassist who worked with drumming legend Max Roach and iconic saxophonist John Coltrane in the 1950s and ’60s.

Other jazz luminaries Davis worked with include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Gil Evans and Quincy Jones.

He began studying piano at 5 in his hometown of Harrisburg, Pa. He learned the tuba in middle school and picked up the double bass in high school. He said he stuck with the double bass because there was a brighter future in it. After high school he went to the Manhattan and Juilliard schools of music on scholarships. While playing with Roach in Harlem, Davis met Coltrane. The two connected and continued to practice together, becoming friends.

“Until his death in 1967, Coltrane and I remained close musically and personally,” Davis told interviewers in 2002. Davis expressed a love for teaching his craft to OCC students. He continued to perform outside the classroom until his death.

  Gil Ferguson, 84

Gil Ferguson, a Republican Assemblyman from Newport Beach from 1984 to 1994, died in his home on May 13, after a bout with a months-long illness.

The Assemblyman, celebrated for his candor and adherence to conservative principles, was honored in a standing-room-only memorial service at Newport Lutheran Church on May 22. His admirers came from all over to pay their respects.

“He was my hero, he was my mentor,” former aide Dean McEwen of Salt Lake City said at the service. “He was a man of integrity.” He was perhaps most famous for his Principles Over Politics campaign, which he began during his 1984 run for the State Assembly.

Indeed, Ferguson was a frequent critic of those politicians who would sell out their principles and constituents for a campaign kickback or political favor, or those who would use their personal wealth to boost their political fortunes, once writing in a Daily Pilot editorial, “That’s how wealthy candidates win elections — they buy them by selling themselves to you and me.”

A former Marine, Ferguson fought in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, earning a Purple Heart. He was survived by his wife, Anita, four children and nine grandchildren.

“With the passing of former Assembly member Ferguson, California has lost a dedicated public servant and a champion for the people of our state,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at the time. “This loyal Californian committed himself to serving our country and our state, first as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and later as a devoted Assembly member. Maria and I extend our heartfelt condolences to Assembly member Ferguson’s family and loved ones as they mourn their loss.”

Art Gronsky, 87

There was a popular myth in town about Art Gronsky, who used to fire the starting gun of the annual Flight of the Lasers boat race. One year, the story went, Gronsky nearly shot a plane out of the air as it flew over Newport Harbor — although those involved with the race said the tale was a hoax, since they always loaded the gun with blanks.

But then, Gronsky was the kind of person who invited legends in Newport Beach. The Pasadena native moved to town at age 6 and never turned back, serving on the Chamber of Commerce for 60 years and running both the Balboa Pavilion and the sportfishing company Art’s Landing.

In October, the 87-year-old Gronsky lapsed into a coma and died while on vacation in Alaska. Friends and colleagues remembered him as a devoted local historian and supporter of local charities — not to mention a constant volunteer at boat parades and other maritime activities.

“I don’t think I ever heard him say anything bad about anybody,” said Seymour Beek, the co-owner of the Balboa Island Ferry. “He was one of those people who was just universally liked.”

Another who remembered Gronsky was Frank LoPreste, one of the most renowned sportfishermen in California, who got his first job from Gronsky at the Balboa Pavilion in the 1950s.

“One of the things Art always said was to make sure you treated everyone fair, so at the end of the day, when you looked at yourself in the mirror, you had nothing to be ashamed of,” LoPreste said. “I took a lot of Art’s principles, the way he treated customers, the proper way to do business. I took a lot of that with me as a young man.”

MERLE HATLEBERG, 83

Merle Hatleberg, who fed thousands at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen she founded in Costa Mesa, died May 31 of congestive heart failure.

Hatleberg started the soup kitchen 21 years ago, when she realized people were being turned away from a senior meal program she managed at a local community center.

“You have to serve as many as you can,” Hatleberg told the Daily Pilot in 2005.

Jean Forbath, who started the nonprofit service organization Share Our Selves, described Hatleberg as a wonderfully sympathetic person who was like a mother to the people she ministered to.

Feeding people was something Hatleberg grew up doing. As a young girl, she packed lunches for the coal miners living at the boarding house her mother ran in West Virginia.

Hatleberg was also in charge of coordinating food for Red Cross relief centers in Orange County during emergencies.

“Her focus has always been on helping what she called the working poor,” her daughter Debbee Pezman said.

RAY ORTLUND, 84

The last word pastor Ray Ortlund spoke was “Amen.”

Ortlund, an influential religious radio show host, died of pulmonary fibrosis July 22 at his home in Newport Beach, surrounded by his wife and children.

“He called all of us to his bedside and we sang some hymns, he read scripture, we prayed together, laughed, shared memories,” said Margie McClure, one of Ortlund’s four children.

Ortlund founded Renewal Ministries, an organization dedicated to guiding pastors, missionaries and churches, in the early 1980s, after settling in Newport Beach with his wife, Anne.

Ortlund was a prolific author and host of the radio show, “Haven of Rest.”

To those he met, he shared his personal motto and offered words of encouragement.

“Go for it,” he told them. He wanted people to live life to the fullest and pursue a meaningful relationship with God.

McClure said she thinks most people will remember her father as a lover of Jesus Christ and of people.

SID SOFFER, 74

Sid Soffer owned the Blue Beet restaurant in Newport Beach for more than 20 years. Its new owner, Steve Lewis, was more than happy to host a memorial celebration in Soffer’s honor following the restaurateur’s death due to complications from leukemia and diabetes on Jan. 30.

Soffer was a colorful figure in the Newport Beach community, giving it his all whether he was whipping up his signature dishes of stroganoff and carrots or taking on city hall.

A self-described “fugitive from the law” who lived on the lam in Las Vegas for a time, “Don’t tell Nobody,” was the phrase most people associated with Sid Soffer.