Willard Francis Tunney Jr.

May 13, 1938 - February 14, 2023

Willard Francis Tunney Jr. (Bill), 84 passed away peacefully on February 14, 2023 of natural causes at his family home in St. Helena, California. He was surrounded by loved ones. While faced with declining health the past year, he was in good spirits and comfortable to the end. He even enjoyed completing his favorite pass-time, the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, a week before his passing.

Bill was born in Los Angeles on May 13, 1938 to Willard Francis Sr. and Lorraine Tunney (Young). He grew up in La Jolla and spent summers working at the Del Mar Racetrack where his father was general manager, and surfing at Black’s Beach with his cousin, Peter Tunney. After graduating from La Jolla High School, Bill attended Stanford University, joined Zeta Psi where he made many life-long friends, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and then earned an MBA in 1961. After graduation, he spent a year traveling the Hawaiian and Tahitian Islands working on his tan and playing the guitar and singing at tropical nightclubs in exchange for his dinner- sometimes, the only meal of the day. Years later, he recounted sleeping on deck of a small sailboat (unbeknownst to its owner) with only 25 cents to his name- just enough for some chocolate milkwhen he was awoken by the boat-owner in the next slip who remarked to him enviably, “Man… you’ve got it made!”

Upon returning to the States, Bill moved to Boston to work for the Raytheon Corporation on aeronautical guidance systems in the early years of NASA’s Space Program. His tenure there was short due to federal budget cuts, but long enough for him to meet the love of his life, Lynda Sue Horner from Long Island, New York. They married in Houston on August 10, 1963 and moved back to California where a friend convinced Bill to try his hand selling real estate in Tahoe. The newlyweds moved to Olympic Valley and Bill’s career in real estate took off with his young family eventually settling in Mill Valley so Bill could split time between San Francisco and Tahoe.

Having met the company founders through real estate in Tahoe, Bill joined the Pacific Union Company in 1977 where he would enjoy a long and fulfilling career in real estate development and form bonds with many business partners, with many of whom he became life-long friends. Bill developed many notable and innovative projects that helped shape the Bay Area including the Watergate and Pacific Park Plaza condominium projects in Emeryville, the West Gate mixed-use shopping center in San Leandro and over 2,000 homes and apartments and three large master-planned communities throughout Northern California with Pacific Union Homes and Pacific Union Land Company, both of which he founded along with his oldest son, Matt, and other partners.

Away from the office, Bill was a committed athlete, running in the Dipsea and several marathons in the 70’s and 80’s and later as an avid road-biker completing several 100-mile rides. Bill loved his weekly round of golf with his close friendstheir more recent rounds being played without keeping score, the focus being just spending time together and the camaraderie. Bill also traveled extensively with many of his most memorable trips being aboard the Lene Marie, Pacific Union’s 110-foot Baltic Trader that circumnavigated the globe, where he loved to scuba dive, and again, nap in the sun on deck. Back home, one of Bill’s favorite traditions was the Pacific Union “Duck Lunch” which he and John Montgomery, close friend and business partner, hosted annually where Bill would regale the crowd with his “Tips from the Top,” a series of jokes- some of which were actually quite funny, all of which were rather inappropriate.

Beyond work and his personal pursuits, Bill’s real passion in life was his family. He coached Little League and greatly enjoyed cheering on his three boys as they competed in their various sports with one of the real highlights of his life being watching his son, Jono, play middle-linebacker for Stanford, his alma mater, from 1986-1991. In his later years, Bill was known fondly by his family and seven grandchildren simply as “Dadu” and was famous for instead of saying goodbye, saying “best world!”

Bill is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lynda, their sons Matt (Steph) and Jono as well as Bill’s sister, Gwynne Petersen, nephew, Mark Millard, and grandchildren Jack, Henry, Cheddar, Cooper, Griffin, Mason and Pernille. He is predeceased by his youngest son, Chico (Jennie), who passed away due to complications from colorectal cancer in 2011 just before his 30th birthday which understandably left a huge hole in Bill’s and his family’s hearts. Their surviving family takes comfort in the thought of Bill and Chico being reunited and together again.

A celebration of Bill’s life will be held at the St. Francis Yacht Club on March 15th at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable c/o The Bill & Chico Tunney Memorial Fund. Please email nccrt@ cancer.org to make a donation.

Best world, Dadu! Thank you for our wonderful family. We will cherish our memories of you!