Guy Maurice Robitaille

Guy Robitaille, 87, of Carpinteria, passed away on Tuesday, February 16, 2016, after a brief illness. A rosary prayer service was held Sunday, February 21, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Chapel with a funeral mass held on Monday, February 22, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Internment at the Carpinteria Cemetery followed. Guy was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 30, 1929. He graduated from Loyola High School in 1946 and immediately enlisted in military service, first in the Naval Reserves, then in the Army Air Corps. He attended flight school in Waco, Texas, but during a flight, the plane crashed, resulting in six months of hospitalization. Upon recovery, he was stationed at RAF Station Burtonwood, in England. He served his country until his honorable discharge in 1952 from March Field, in Riverside County, as a U.S. Air Force sergeant. Guy was married to Carmen Villar on January 31, 1953, and moved to Carpinteria in 1959. They recently celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. Guy was a natural-born salesman and the consummate entrepreneur. As a child, he sold newspapers and magazines on street corners in Los Angeles. He caddied and picked up golf balls, set bowling pins, swept barbershop floors, and made drug store deliveries. He had his own wholesale business selling oranges and eggs and a lawn-cutting service. As a young man, he did valet parking, changed tires in a tire shop, was a salesman for Sears, Roebuck & Co., sold cement for garage foundations, was a chummer on a fishing boat, and worked in an orange packing warehouse, eventually opening up Guy’s Sporting Goods Store in Northridge. Most of his adult life Guy was in the food brokerage business, selling a variety of well-known brand products to grocery stores. Nationally, he is recognized for introducing and marketing the then new, now ubiquitous, Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing in the early 1970s, and for making the official mints of President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration. Locally, Guy was known for his decades of community involvement, beginning with the city’s incorporation and first council elections in 1964. Over the years, he coached Little League, served as president of the Carpinteria Kiwanis Club, helped service organizations with their fundraising events, chaired city anniversary celebrations, and led the movement to establish San Jose del Cabo as a Carpinteria Sister City. He opened Carpinteria’s first delicatessen, The Deli House, naming its signature sandwich The Warrior while employing a number of local students over the years. He was named Carpinterian of the Year in 1985, and was the city’s 50th Anniversary Grand Marshal. Guy enjoyed countless hobbies and welcomed every opportunity to share them with family and friends: prank playing, grunion hunting, clam digging, fishing, coin collecting. He was an avid sports fan, loved the Anaheim Angels, Los Angeles Kings, USC football and his kids enticed him into cheering for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Oregon Ducks. He was especially proud of his children and grandchildren, meeting President and Mrs. Reagan and attending inaugural balls in Washington. Guy is survived by his wife, Carmen; four children, Suzanne Robitaille, John (Tami) Robitaille, Carol Robitaille and Janine (Gino) Filippin; 14 grandchildren, Andrew (Candice), Nick, Allie, Elisabeth (Brandon), Alex, Victoria, Mitchell, Julia, Katherine, Caroline, Weston, Brooks, Brett, and Payton; and two great-grandchildren, Jackson and 4-month-old Justice, whom he met for the first time the day he passed away; and numerous nieces and nephews. Guy is preceded in death by his father, Maurice; his mother, Jeanne; and his only sibling, Andre. The family sends its heart-felt thanks to Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care. The family asks that in lieu of flowers memorial donations be made to the organization. Click here to make an online donation.

Guy Maurice Robitaille

January 30, 1929 - February 16, 2016