Jack Balshaw, a three-term Petaluma councilman and former Planning Commissioner died last Wednesday after a two-year struggle with melanoma. He was 78.
A civil engineer by trade, Balshaw was born in Rhode Island, served in the Army and moved to California in the ‘50s to oversee the construction of interstate highways for the Department of Transportation.
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After retirement, he got involved in local politics, joining the Petaluma City Council in 1980. He was also instrumental in starting the Petaluma Downtown Association and Petaluma Ecumenical Projects (PEP), according to his son Jim Balshaw.
He was passionate about fiscal responsibility, transparency at City Hall and reducing government waste, becoming an advocate for Petaluma.
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“He was a serious person when he needed to be, but he also knew how to have a good laugh,” Jim Balshaw said. “He never took anything people said personally or got mad at anybody. It was almost impossible to offend him.”
After leaving the council, Balshaw became a columnist for the Argus Courier, writing opinion pieces about world and local politics and the economy. In 1989, the downtown pedestrian bridge connecting Water Street to the River Plaza Shopping Center was named in his honor.
Balshaw is survived by wife Janet Otis Balshaw and sons David and Jim. The family will have a small private memorial in June. In lieu of flowers the family prefers contributions be made to Hospice of Petaluma or the Yosemite Conservancy.
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