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Obituaries

Claude G. Alexander

Services will be held on Saturday, April 14, for Claude G. (Alex) Alexander, who died March 17 in Redwood City from congestive heart failure. He was 87.

The will services at 11 a.m. at Christ Church, 815 Portola Road in Portola Valley, with a reception to follow.

Born in San Diego, he served in the Army in France during World War II. After the war, he received bachelor's and master's degrees from Oregon State University and a doctorate in zoology from UCLA in 1955.

After accepting a faculty position at San Francisco State University, he and his family moved to the Bay Area, first living in Palo Alto, and then San Carlos, Woodside and, finally, Menlo Park.

While at San Francisco State, he conducted research on the physiology and parasites of sharks, skates and rays from the Pacific Ocean, and the parasites of fresh water fish from lakes and streams from Canada through Baja California.

Other research trips took him to Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, and to Enewetak, Marshall Islands.

However, his great love was teaching and mentoring several generations of biology undergraduate and graduate students at San Francisco State until his retirement in 1987, the family said.

He always thought of his students as colleagues and never held formal office hours. The doors to his office and lab were always open, even on nights and weekends, to accommodate his working students' difficult schedules, family members said.

He was an active sportsman all his life; he played basketball for the U.S. Army and Oregon State, and organized weekly pickup games (faculty vs. students) at San Francisco State. A high school track and field star, he continued to run or walk several miles a day, and participated in a couple of Bay to Breakers, several 10Ks and half-marathons, and one marathon.

In retirement, he pursued his long-deferred interest in the arts by taking creative writing, art history and painting classes at Canada College.

He served on the vestry and was an active member of the weekly men's breakfast group at Christ Church, Portola Valley.

In 2005, he and his wife, Betsy, bought a condo in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand and enjoyed many months with old and new friends in that country.

He is survived by his wife, Betsy; his son, Mark; his daughters, Leigh and Kay; and five grandchildren.

The family requests that memorial gifts be sent, payable to "UCorp SF State" with "Bio-Alexander" on the memo line, to Michael A. Goldman, Chair, Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132-1722.

Jeffry Leggett

Jeffry Alan Leggett, who had a lifelong career in advertising and marketing, died March 17 at his home in Carmel Valley. He was 51.

Mr. Leggett grew up in Atherton and graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School, where he was captain of the golf team. He graduated from the University of Oregon, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Following his early years in advertising agencies in San Francisco, he moved to Seattle to become brand manager at the Henry Weinhard Company. He later founded his own microbrew, Jet City Ale.

Transitioning to newspaper advertising, he worked for the Palo Alto Daily News, then becoming branch manager of the Peninsula editions of the paper. He last worked in sales at the Monterey Herald newspaper.

Some of Mr. Leggett's hobbies were refurbishing vintage sports cars, remodeling his homes, barbecuing, and relaxing with his family and three cats, say family members.

He is survived by his wife, Birgitt Leggett; his mother, Beverly Allen, children Maren and Ryan; and sister Christine Triska.

Donations in Mr. Leggett's memory may be made to Maren and Ryan's education fund by contacting Todd Bergstrom at Edward Jones, 967-0450. Go to missionmortuary.com to leave messages in the online guest book.

Note: Obituaries are based on information provided by families and mortuaries. You can leave a remembrance on Lasting Memories: AlmanacNews.com/obituaries.