Stan Sather died June 14, 2025 at the age of 84 after a long battle with circulatory problems.
There will be a celebration of his life on July 27th, on what would have been his 85th birthday, at 11:30 am at the Rocking B Farms, 22308 NW 31st Avenue, Ridgefield, WA 98642.
We knew Stan primarily through Bridge. He was a terrific player who won our D20 GNT five times and represented D20 five times in the NAP. In the early eighties, with his best partner, Dennis Sorensen, he beat a team led by Paul Soloway to reach the quarterfinals of the GNT national championship. 30 years later, with Chris Gibson, he was still terrorizing the best players in the world when he led Meckwell by 33 at the half of another GNT championship.
Stan was a fine declarer and a wonderful defender. He was known as a slow and deliberate player. He told me that it was better to spend the time at the table to work out the right answer than it was to realize later how you should have played. This is advice that would improve the games of many players.
Stan had a wry sense of humor. One time at the Ace of Clubs, a bridge club in Portland, a lady told him that she thought he was so nice to play with that big, slow fellow. With a straight face Stan told her that he felt good when he helped those less fortunate people. The lady was referring to Dennis Sorensen whose slow Texas drawl hid the fact that he had a Math PHD.
Stan was many things other than a bridge player. He had a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University, a Masters in Counseling from the University of Oregon, and a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School. He reminisced about carrying the nuclear football ( the nuclear launch codes) when he was a captain in the Air Force. He loved to talk about going 125 miles an hour in his Jaguar XK 150 that he brought back from his posting in England.
Stan sold big iron (Mainframes) for IBM in the Seattle area and when jobs were tight went to work as a jail guard in Multnomah county. He opined that he used his counseling degree to keep the inmates in line without ever having to get physical. I think it was the fact that he was the physically strongest person I have ever met that had the calming influence.
While he was working full time at the jail, Stan went to Lewis and Clark Law school at night. When he had maxed out his retirement with PERS, he retired from being a corrections officer and opened his law practice. He had a varied practice with most of his work in the Personal Injury, Malpractice, and Domestic Relations fields. He collaborated with Marc Zwerling on many involved cases. D20 benefited from his legal training when Stan chaired our disciplinary committee for more than a decade.
Stan loved to teach. He taught many young people to love math and science. He wrote an astronomy book for elementary school children titled ‘The Lonely Planet’. Ten days before he died I was privileged to listen to a young woman who had just graduated with a Masters in teaching with an emphasis in Science tell Stan how instrumental he had been in getting her interested in science and teaching. His face lit up as they shared the memories of his efforts and the joy of his success.
We are all poorer for his passing.
– Hal Montgomery
