By Nels Johnson
Special to the Ross Valley Reporter
Attorney John Henry Colteaux, a former Ross Valley official who boosted San Anselmo’s small town atmosphere, asserting a half century ago that the community had no room for new development, died at home in San Anselmo on Aug. 4.
Colteaux, a noted Marin civil and business lawyer who served for eight years on the San Anselmo Town Council, was 88. His council terms ran from 1974 to 1978, and from 1988 to 1992. He also served on the town Planning Commission, and as head of the Chamber of Commerce.
“San Anselmo doesn’t have room to develop anything,” Colteaux declared during his triumphant 1974 council campaign. Officials must focus instead, he said, on preserving the area’s small-town atmosphere.
Colteaux, who founded the Committee to Landscape a Scenic San Anselmo, urged a halt to strip mall development along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and supported second units on single family lots that met safety standards.
He was a pragmatic, reasoned voice among diverse and sometimes controversial council colleagues in the 1970s, officials who included Martin Blinder, Woody Capurro and Pieter Toal.
In a 1992 resolution of commendation, the San Anselmo Town Council lauded Colteaux for working “to preserve our ridgetops, open space, neighborhoods and heritage trees,” and noted he represented the community with distinction on a variety of key regional agencies. In addition, colleagues credited him for working “to help the homeless.”
He was a law partner at firms including Ackeret, Colteaux and Muzio, and Ackeret, Colteaux, Laird and Sheeks.
“He was cerebral, extremely intelligent and a vigorous advocate for his clients,” observed an acquaintance, attorney Gary Ragghianti, founding partner of Ragghianti and Freitas in San Rafael. Ragghianti described Colteaux as a “fiercely independent” man.
San Rafael attorney John Sharp, who was a law associate of Colteaux for several years as well as a town council colleague and a close friend, called him “the most painfully honest person I ever knew.”
“He taught me writing skills…in the spirit of short declarative sentences,” Sharp said, and learned from him “the value of working in the public’s interest.”
He was born on July 31, 1935, in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Charles and Margaret Colteaux. The family moved to San Bernardino, and in 1945 to San Rafael. He attended Marin Catholic High School and served in the Navy for four years before graduating from San Francisco State with a degree in political science.
He earned a law degree from Stanford and served as a law clerk for Judge Benjamin C. Duniway, regarded as a judicial heavyweight at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Genevieve; a brother, Norm; sons Andrew, Bryan, Dennis and Edward, and five grandchildren.
A celebration of life is planned for October.
Leave a Reply