Leonard Salle
A memorial service is set for Saturday afternoon, May 27, for Leonard Myron Salle of Ladera, who with his wife founded the progressive think tank, the Commonweal Institute, in Menlo Park in 2001. Mr. Salle died unexpectedly May 5 — 10 days shy of his 70th birthday — after undergoing coronary bypass surgery.Born and raised in Detroit, Mr. Salle graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in civil engineering. He moved to San Mateo in 1960, and worked in management for engineering design and construction firms.
He was working in the Environmental Resources Agency of Santa Clara County when he retired in 2000. While employed by the county, he was also president of the Santa Clara County Engineers and Architects Association, and was the primary organizer of the County Employee Labor Alliance.
Mr. Salle was a fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers and a charter member of the Association of Environmental Professionals in California.
After he retired, Mr. Salle and his wife, Dr. Katherine Forrest, established the Commonweal Institute in hopes of providing a counterpoint to the powerful and influential voices of well-funded conservative think tanks in the country, such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.
Mr. Salle served as the Commonweal Institute’s president.
The ideals of the institute reflected those of Mr. Salle, according to family members. They include a commitment to future generations, environmental protection, a balance between business and the whole of society, separation of church and state, personal choice and privacy.
Family members say he will be fondly remembered for his sense of justice, ethics and responsibility toward his community, irreverent sense of humor, skill as a classical pianist, and devotion to family.
In addition to his wife, Katherine, Mr. Salle is survived by his sons, William F. Salle and Stephen K. Salle; stepsons Eric John Finseth and Ian Frederick Finseth; his brother and sister-in-law Donald and Adele Salle; and six grandchildren.
The May 27 memorial service will be from 2 to 6 p.m. in the Taube Center at Notre Dame de Namur University, 1500 Ralston Ave. in Belmont.
The family requests that donations be made to the Leonard M. Salle Memorial Education Fund at the Commonweal Institute, 325 Sharon Park Drive, Suite 332, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
Kate Constantz
A public memorial service for longtime Portola Valley and Ladera resident Kate Constantz is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 20, at Our Lady of the Wayside Church at 930 Portola Road in Portola Valley.Ms. Constantz, a registered nurse with skills in the visual arts, interior design and in creating welcoming homes for her family and extended family during 50 years of residence in Ladera and Portola Valley, died Tuesday, May 9, in the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Redwood City. She was 81.
A daughter of immigrants, she earned her nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania and married Robert Constantz, a physician, in 1948.
The couple came to Ladera in 1955 as one of the early residents of the community following Robert’s service in Germany with the U.S. Army, relatives said. A few years later, Dr. Constantz was a founding physician of Kaiser Permanente hospital in Redwood City and practiced there for 45 years, relatives said. The family moved to Portola Valley in 1967.
During her time here, she was a full-time mother and wife, a painter of landscapes, and a loyal friend who built particularly strong relationships with her daughters-in-law, relatives said.
From 1966 to 1976, she served as the school nurse at Woodside High School, during which time she also actively opposed the Vietnam War, relatives said.
A career as an interior designer came together in about 1976 and she went on to design and furnish — often with no-limit budgets — homes and offices in Portola Valley, Woodside, Palo Alto, and along Sand Hill Road, relatives said.
Ms. Constantz is survived by her husband who now lives in Palo Alto; sister Phyllis Blum Quilter of Portola Valley; sons Robert of San Carlos, James of Portola Valley, Mark of Mountain View, and Brent of Portola Valley; and 11 grandchildren. Ryan Christopher Constantz, a grandson, died in 2000 while in the sixth grade at Corte Madera Middle School.
Contributions in Ms. Constantz’s name may be made to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.
Following the May 20 memorial service, a two-hour lunch and reception for friends and family is set for 11:30 a.m.
Barbara McCulloch Visbal
Barbara McCulloch Visbal, who taught First Communion preparation classes at St. Raymond Church in Menlo Park from 1961 to 1989, died April 29 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for 18 years. She was 75.Ms. Visbal graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Menlo Park in 1949 and attended the San Francisco College for Women.
She is survived by her husband of 53 years, J. Malcolm Visbal of San Carlos; children John Visbal of Lafayette and Erin Mara of San Francisco; and seven grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was held at St. Raymond Church. The family prefers memorial donations be made to the Religious of the Sacred Heart Residence-Oakwood, 140 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton, CA 94027.
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