Jeffrey Carlson

“If you get confused listen to the music play”

–Grateful Dead

Jeffrey Carlson lost his hard fought battle with cancer on Feb. 4, 2015 in Los Angeles, California, surrounded by family and friends.

Born in Buffalo, New York on July 28, 1954, Jeff’s family relocated four years later to Palo Alto, California where he and his siblings were raised. After attending Palo Alto High, Jeff continued on to San Diego State University.

It was there, one fateful day while tracking down the source of Grateful Dead music playing in the student dorm, that Jeff discovered much more than just the source of the music. That was when he met and fell in love with Nancy, the love of his life.

The couple married after graduation and eventually, in 1985, settled in Pacific Palisades to raise their two sons, Steven and Matthew.

Bicycles always fascinated Jeff. While most kids enjoy riding bicycles and perhaps utilizing bikes for a paper route, Jeff developed a deep appreciation of the aesthetics of their form and function that continued throughout his life.

He was a serious road cyclist, but Saturdays were reserved for mountain biking with a regular group, including Nancy.

The Saturday mountain biker group began almost 20 years ago as an informal conglomeration of dads whose kids attended Village School on Swarthmore Ave. in Pacific Palisades.

When the group originally began, Jeff was the only dad who knew anything about bicycles. The regular Saturday rides continue to this day with the same core of aging dads, energized by the momentum and enthusiasm that Jeff instilled.

Although his collection of bicycles is impressive in their variety and high quality, Jeff’s comprehensive collection of Grateful Dead recordings and memorabilia far outpaces the bicycles.

‘Jam band’ music became the personal soundtrack for his life and reflected Jeff’s natural traits of selflessness, self-sufficiency, honesty and integrity.

In his lifetime, Jeff navigated a successful career in children’s clothing manufacturing, but he will be more famously remembered as a devoted husband and father, an avid mountain biker, San Francisco Giants and 49ers fan, Grateful Dead / jam band fanatic, skier, world traveler, outdoorsman, and all around handyman.

The diagnosis of lung cancer in such a health-conscious non-smoker seemed most unfair. Despite all-out efforts to fight it, the highly aggressive disease spread far too quickly to stop. He will be intensely missed by everyone who knew him.

Jeff is survived by his wife Nancy; sons Steven and Matthew; parents Rod and Carole Carlson; his brother Tom, sister-in-law Brenda and their sons James and William; Jeff’s sister Sarah Carlson, her son Josh and husband Ras Bonitto.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Surgical Oncology Education and Research Fund, c/o Allan W. Silberman, M.D., Cedars-Sinai Cancer Institute, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048.

(Written by Mark Green)