Local residents who died recently: Aker, Jacobson, Ludwick and Sandy

Blake Nichols Sandy, 65, of Portola Valley, who was born at Stanford Hospital and grew up in Ladera, attended Woodside High School, hiked the Camino de Santiago and was a devoted Led Zeppelin fan, died on Aug. 20.

Yvonne Elsie Jacobson, 88, of Los Altos Hills, grew up on her family’s cherry orchard in Sunnyvale and wrote the 1984 history book “Passing Farms: Enduring Values” about the farm’s disappearance, who attended Fremont High School and won a speech and debate contest against future Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, graduated from Stanford University, and who taught courses on religion and art at San José State University, De Anza College, and Foothill College, died on Aug. 18.

Charles Leonard Aker, 73, of Leon, Nicaragua, a tireless advocate for addressing climate change who was born and raised in Palo Alto, graduated from Palo Alto High School, earned a doctorate in biology and who moved to Nicaragua in 1984 to become a professor and investigator at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Leon, died on July 18.

Andrew Kennedy Ludwick, 80, of Palo Alto, who co-founded the pioneering networking startup SynOptics Communications in 1985, pioneered twisted-pair Ethernet and who was an advisory board member for the Northern California Innocence Project, a founding member of the 49er Foundation Red & Gold Society, and who was an avid golfer, died on June 2. 

To read full obituaries, leave remembrances and post photos, go to Lasting Memories at AlmanacNews.com/obituaries.