Paul V. Rodrigues

It is with deep grief we announce the sudden death of Paul Rodrigues at his home in SantaCruz. An incredibly talented man, he had a curious mind and a generous heart, always ready tohelp others. Born in Oakland, Calif., the eldest of five children, Paul put himself through UCBerkeley, working in the campus center, as the Free Speech Movement made history outside. Hegraduated in 1969 with his Landscape Architecture degree. Paul was proud to have worked inSan Francisco with Garrett Eckbo in the ’70's, and with Roy Rydell in the early ’80's when hemoved to Santa Cruz. He soon opened his own firm, providing landscape design and consultingservices for all size of projects. Some of these include: Stanford University, Los Gatos Blvd. andSanta Cruz Ave., Quail Hollow Ranch, San Lorenzo Park play area, Live Oak Street Tree MasterPlan, many local parks, and work at UCSC including Oaks College Master Plan, AccessibilityWalkway projects throughout the campus, and the design and construction of two campusbridges. Paul provided landscape plans for many old historic adobes being saved here inNorthern California. He had articles published in Garden Design, Horticulture, and LandscapeArchitecture magazines.Throughout his career, Paul was asked to design private residential gardens. These designswere so beautifully drawn they were often framed and hung as pieces of art by the homeowner.So it should be no surprise that Paul was an exceptionally talented artist as well as LandscapeArchitect. Watercolor, pen and ink, oil or soft pastels, he mastered them all with his own uniquestyle. All these abilities were put to good use when he began assisting Dave McGuire andBlackpoint Art Tours. Many years of watercolor travel groups ensued, painting in Guatemala,Hawaii, Mexico, Portugal, and Greece.It was 1990, in Greece that he met another traveling artist, Amy Stark. Amy lived in Bostonat the time, from where she would pack a small bag and her art supplies and spend a month ortwo wandering in Greece, painting. On the first day of arriving in the village of Molyvos, on theisland of Lesvos, Amy went exploring. She ended up at the very top of the village and enteredthe ruins of a castle, only to find a group of artists sitting all around painting. Dave’s group.Invited to join them at the evening critique session down on the beach, and then out to listen tobouzouki music in the olive grove, Amy and Paul met. And stay together traveling and paintingside-by-side for 34 years. While their annual travels back to Europe took them to many places,the trip would always end with time in Greece, their second home, where their love began.For Paul all trips were painting trips, each memorialized in dozens of sketchbooks of allsizes. He always had a small sketchbook in his pocket wherever he was. Sitting in a cafe, at aconcert, or on a bench on East Cliff overlooking the Monterey Bay, that book came out and avisual memory was created.In 2000, after being approached many times in the past, Paul finally agreed to join theSanta Cruz County Redevelopment Agency as Urban Designer. He was well respected and soughtafter for his knowledge and creative problem solving, within the agency and within thecommunity. Paul had the ability to understand and discuss technical engineering details, as wellas coastal geology and surf breaks with planners, and at meetings with the public. All the whilenot losing sight of aesthetics and the big picture of how improvements fit into the communityand the environment. His most significant Redevelopment Agency project was the East CliffBluff stabilization project in Pleasure Point, when storm damage threatened to close the road.He can be thanked for creating a natural looking setting for the new walkway on East Cliff andthe sea wall beneath it. Throughout construction he worked closely with the crew, hanging fromor climbing on rebar, physically showing them how to sculpt the surface to follow the naturalcontours of the cliff. Afterwards, how to paint the surface to match the original geology. It isthanks to Paul that it looks so natural that most people are not aware it is concrete. Thatcompany is now sought after to do for other communities what Paul taught them to do here atPleasure Point.As well as creating his own home garden, a never-ending, always changing work-in progress,Paul was a voracious eclectic reader: philosophy, travel, Lapham’s Quarterly and TheMarginalian, from Saramago to Posada’s Mexican prints, plus his weekly New Yorker magazine.He took a deep dive into his family’s history and ancestry, coming up with amazing stories, goingback to the Mayflower on his mother’s English side and Hawaiian sugar plantation stewards onhis father’s Portuguese side. Spurring many travels with Amy through Portugal, the Azores andMadeira.Paul was also the chef in this household. From the wonderful aroma of morning coffeebrewing, to cooking beautiful nightly dinners with such an artists flair that you had to take amoment to enjoy looking at the plate before messing it up by eating. There was always some ofhis chocolate biscotti in the house, a favorite enjoyed by many, but he also could whip up alovely flan.Paul was generous with his time and advice. He rarely asked for help but was always readyto help others. He was able to look at a situation and just know what needed to be done, thenquietly do it. Not wanting the spotlight or applause. Paul helped shape Santa Cruz, and thewider Bay area, in ways that impact our lives. With his designs, his knowledge and his presence,he made our lives more beautiful. Paul, you are desperately missed.He is survived by wife Amy, brothers Dana (Barbara) and Tony (Victor), sisters Therese(Mike) and Elizabeth, plus many nieces, nephews.