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Deaths

Norman Dilling

Norman Edwin Dilling, 37, a Menlo Park native, died March 13.

He was born and raised in the Menlo Park area, attending Las Lomitas Elementary School, Menlo-Atherton High School and Foothill College.

He managed Ace Hardware in Palo Alto and for the past eight years had managed The Moulding Company in Santa Clara.

He is survived by his two sons, Bradley and Justin of San Mateo; and his former wife, Stacey Leonhart of San Mateo.

A memorial service was held March 21.

Jeffrey Fisher

Jeffrey George Fischer, 54, a resident of Palo Alto and Menlo Park for more than 40 years, died March 30.

He was born July 12, 1952, in North Muskegon, Mich., and lived in Highland Park, Ill., before moving to Palo Alto in 1961. He attended Garland Elementary School, Jordan Middle School and Palo Alto High School.

A talented painter, photographer and sculptor, he attended Cal Arts in Los Angeles. He later returned to Palo Alto where he met his wife, Karen Thompson. Their daughter, Sydney Louise, was born in 1979.

He lived with his wife and daughter in Menlo Park and worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator and later at Crane Place. In the 1980s, he successfully started a handyman business.

He is survived by his wife, Karen of Menlo Park; his daughter, Sydney of Menlo Park; his mother, Janice Lee Fisher; his brothers, Steve and Mike Fisher; and his sister, Abby Sue Fisher.

The family is planning a memorial event for July. Donations may be made to a charity of choice.

Louise Pastorino

Louise Marie Pastorino, 94, a longtime resident of Mountain View, died March 20.

She was born in San Leandro and had lived in Mountain View for more than 75 years before moving to Lakeport, Calif.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Pastorino. She is survived by her daughters, Rosalie Rossi and Irene Rivas; son, Robert Pastorino; sister, Christine Faravelli; brothers, John Puppo, Edward Puppo and Robert Puppo; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

A memorial service has been held. Memorial donations can be made to the charity of your choice.

Sheila Spaeth

Sheila Spaeth, 101, a longtime member of the Stanford community, died March 30.

She was the wife and partner of the late Dean Carl B. Spaeth of Stanford Law School. For 60 years she had been widely respected on campus for her service as doyenne of the law school and support of cultural activities. She was a founding member and second president of the Community Committee for International Students and served on the boards of the Committee for Art and the Music Guild.

She was born Feb. 8, 1906, in England at Streatham, outside of London. As a girl, she loved spending summers in Scotland at Ballater, her Scottish father's family home, where she had childhood memories of being taken to see the king and queen arrive at the train station.

As a young woman she modeled sportswear for a London department store before moving into the theater, where she bought the material for costumes she designed. She was introduced to Carl Spaeth by her Scottish uncle and aunt, who knew him as a Rhodes Scholar studying at Oxford. They were married in 1931 and moved back to the United States in 1932.

After appointments at Northwestern and Yale Law Schools, the young couple moved to Washington D.C. in the early 1940s with two small children. Her husband worked with Nelson Rockefeller and once helped the Rockefellers find a home in the Washington Palisades. The Spaeth family spent two years in Uruguay during World War II, where Carl served on an anti-Nazi international committee.

She moved west to Stanford in 1946 when her husband became dean of the law school. She soon became active in university activities, helping to organize campus groups including the Daiquiri Girls, a book club and a bridge club. The Spaeths were active in politics. Family photographs show her with Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Jimmy Carter, Sandra Day O'Connor, Tom Campbell, Byron Sher and others.

"Sheila was a great lady," said longtime friend and emeritus law professor John Merryman. "She had real style, real class. I was lucky to know her."

She is survived by her son, Grant Spaeth of Los Altos; her daughter, Laurie Spaeth of Stanford; two grandchildren and other family in England.

The family plans to have a memorial service in a few months. Memorial donations may be made to the Sheila Spaeth Memorial, Community Committee for International Students at Bechtel International Center, P.O. Box 20227, Stanford, CA 94305.