Ronald James Pasquinelli

Ronald James Pasquinelli passed away on June 20, 2017 at the age of 80 after a lengthy period of deteriorating health due to heart disease. He was born in 1936 and raised in Chicago, Illinois. In 1959 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University and became a Registered Professional Engineer in 1964. Later he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Golden Gate University. In 1960 Mr. Pasquinelli was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corp. During his time in military service he served as a company commander with U.S. Naval Construction Forces in the Western Pacific. Following his military service he worked for a number of years in the heavy construction industry before joining the international business consulting firm of Booz, Allen and Hamilton. During his time with BA&H, Mr. Pasquinelli served a number of financial, industrial and governmental clients, including the State of Washington, the Government of Pakistan and the U.S. Government. In 1970 he moved to California and founded an investment management firm wherein he provided investment strategy to institutional managers,and, managed private accounts for individuals, retirement plans and trusts until his retirement in 2002. In the early 1970's he met and married Marie Bagnasco, a Monterey native. Mr. Pasquinelli was involved in a number of local civic affairs. He served a number of years on the Monterey City Planning Commission, the Citizens Tax Committee and as Chairman of the Monterey Institute for research in Astronomy (MIRA). An avid racing sailor he was a Past Commodore and Life Member of the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club. Mr. Pasquinelli was also heavily involved in church related work serving on a number of church Boards, Councils and Commissions. He was a member of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Malta (the Knights of Malta), a Past Grand Knight of the Monterey Council of the Knights of Columbus, a member of the Fourth Degree Color Corp, and was Past Faithful Navigator of the Santa Rosalia Assembly of the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus. Most notably he served as President of the Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association from 1976 to the time of his death. He was a fierce advocate of limiting the ability of governments to arbitrarily raise citizens' taxes. Among Mr. Pasquinelli's core beliefs were: Government should not have the ability to raise taxes just because it thinks it needs more money without asking citizens who will have to pay the taxes any more than individual employees can gives themselves a raise in pay without approval from their employers. Another strongly held belief was that governments' share of the "economic pie" should be relatively static. He often said, "If government, at any level, wants more money it must establish policies that allow the "economic pie" to grow. If it establishes policies which limit growth of the "pie" then government should likewise be restricted in the growth of its income." He is survived by his brother, Arthur Pasquinelli of Monterey. A visitation will take place on Sunday, June 25, from 5-7 pm, with rosary at 6 pm at Mission Mortuary in Monterey. A Mass of Christian Burial will be on Monday, June 26 at 9 am at San Carlos Cathedral, with committal service taking place in the Santa Rosalia Chapel prior to placement crypt side.