Patrick W. Fulton ’59

Countless superlatives have been used to describe Patrick Willson Fulton since he passed away on March 31st. Wonderful, remarkable, unequaled, and indomitable are just some of the words describing his character. As a husband, father, grandfather, friend, and mentor, he was inspirational, wise, optimistic, and caring. Universally well-liked, Pat will be missed by this world.

Pat was born March 29th, 1939 in South Pasadena, CA and left this life at the age of 77 in Civitavecchia, Italy after a decade’s long bout with a rare form of non-hodgkin lymphoma known as Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia. His untimely death occurred while traveling abroad and enjoying life to the end with his beloved wife of 46 years, Joan nee Schminke.

Pat is survived by daughter Jennifer Elfenbein, sons Peter (wife Jennifer Stephens) and David (wife Tiara Wulandari), grandchildren Lucas, Lila, and Dylan, brother Michael (wife Judy), sister-in-law Paula Julianel (husband Volney), and nieces and nephews.

Most of Pat’s life was spent in Southern California. Raised in South Pasadena and then Del Mar, Pat graduated from San Dieguito High School in 1956 and Maine Maritime Academy in Castine in 1959, both with his dear brother Mike. He served seven years in the U.S. Merchant Marine and then continued his engineering career with General Electric working at the U.S. Navy Nuclear Reactor Facility in Idaho Falls. This ultimately brought him back home to San Diego where he served as Vice President for Performance Contracting Inc., a leading insulation firm. Pat contributed to the construction of numerous U.S. Navy and Commercial vessels at NASSCO. This work he found enormously gratifying and continued as a consultant into his last years.

In addition to his occupation, Pat found time to excel at golf and other hobbies including coaching youth soccer and supporting all three of his children in youth theatre. He also never gave up hope that his favorite sports teams the Chargers, Padres, and SDSU Aztecs would one day win a Championship for San Diego (some things just aren’t meant to be).

As is evidenced by his fandom, Pat was an eternal optimist and this outlook was not lost on any one who met him. He loved people and people loved him. He never lost his zest for life even in the face of illness which visited him often during his final years.

Interment at El Camino Cemetery will be private with a Celebration of Pat’s life to be held on Saturday, April 23rd, 2 PM at ZLAC Rowing Club, 1111 Pacific Beach Dr., San Diego 92109.
In lieu of flowers a donation can be made to Maine Maritime Academy, San Diego Junior Theatre, or Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia. – See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sandiegouniontribune