Deaths Deaths (August 31, 2005)

Isak Hansen

Isak Hansen, 79, a longtime resident of Menlo Park, died Aug. 17.

He was born July 19, 1926, in Talvik, Norway, and was a resident of Menlo Park for more than 30 years and worked for many years as a realtor.

He moved to Sweden at an early age and lived, worked and earned a degree in engineering there. He came to the United States in the 1960s and became a citizen shortly after. He had been self-employed since then.

He is survived by his wife of 32 years, June; daughter, Else Arntzen of Sweden; stepson, Ed Imsland of Jackson; son-in-law, Lars-Olov Dahlund of Sweden; three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, three sisters and one brother.

Charles Howard Janin

Charles Howard Janin, 89, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died July 9.

Born Nov. 4, 1915, in Oakland, Calif., to a pioneer California family, he was the youngest child of Charles Henry and Erwina Smith Janin. He, his sister Elizabeth and brother Louis were raised in Piedmont, where he attended Frank C. Haven and Piedmont High schools, spending summers on the family ranch near Solvang.

Following in the mining tradition of his father and grandfather Louis, he chose geological engineering as his major at the University of California, Berkeley. There he joined the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and participated in both football and track. After he graduated in 1939, he married his college sweetheart, Frances Lois Choate. The couple moved to Ely, Nev., where he worked briefly as a mining engineer.

The family moved to Palo Alto in 1940, where he enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to earn his MBA in 1942. Soon after his graduation, he joined W.R. Ames Co., then located in San Francisco. He worked as its president until he retired in the early 1970s. He was also on the board of directors of Tab Products and H.S. Watson Co. and was president of the National Sprinkler Irrigation Association.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, he loved golf and held memberships at both Stanford and Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club, of which he and his wife were charter members. While a member of Sharon, he served on its board of directors and as club president. He not only enjoyed playing golf with his wife and friends, but the couple frequently attended professional golf matches and especially loved the Crosby Clambake, now the AT&T at Pebble Beach. He was a member of the Society of California Pioneers and was a generous benefactor to charitable organizations as well as to his alma maters.

He is survived by his two daughters, Barbara Ann Walton and Judith Louise Chambers; son-in-law, Robert Walton; and six grandchildren.

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