Celebrating a Good Life Lived Large: Mike Gage

Big souls leave big holes. And so a very big hole was left in 2021 with the passing of Mike Gage. Mike was a huge presence in environmental activism, clean energy and transportation and in showing how to live a life to its fullest. Mike could charm you; he could infuriate you; but chances are, if you knew him, you could never ignore him. I never could. He was a mentor, a boss, a friend. And I did not want to end 2021 without sharing a view of his life.

“He left his mark—on me and everyone else he met.”

So notes former California Governor Jerry Brown when describing his friend and colleague Mike Gage. High praise from someone who truly understands leaving a mark. But Mike Gage had that effect on those around him.

Bigger than life. ?Force of nature. ?Bull in a china shop. ?Trailblazer. ?Blunt and tactless. ?Restless soul on a quest.

There may be as many ways to describe Mike Gage as there are friends in his orbit or foes in his wake. But no one walked away from an encounter with this driven and big souled man neutral or unchanged. He presented to the world who and what he was and he left it up to others to decide if they could deal with him. He was comfortable and confident in his skin, and he had too many things to do and journeys to make to waste time being who he wasn’t. ?

Brown continues: “Mike Gage was a force of nature -- always on the move, always exploring, never narrow. As a legislator, river rafter and lifetime explorer, he exuded energy and sheer aliveness. In my first term as governor, he helped me pass the law that gave farmworkers the right to join a union.”

Mike provided this support when he was a legislator representing the wine country. He was always ahead of his time; even if sometimes that also meant success was left for those who came later. He never backed down and he pushed the limits for good wherever he was, before he was on to new things.

And he was so many things in his life: Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles and Chief of Staff under Tom Bradley; Paratrooper in the U.S. Army; Chair of the Metropolitan Water District and President of the L.A. Department of Water and Power Commissioners; California State Assemblymember from Napa; white water rafting guide in India, South America, Africa and the Middle East; land conservation advocate; television political commentator; sustainable farmer in Oregon; first CEO of the clean transportation non-profit CALSTART.

Born May 1, 1945, in Glendale, California, but growing up in Napa, it was the wine country that shaped much of Mike’s world view while also feeding his restlessness.?He joined the Army soon after starting community college looking to escape from home. He became a paratrooper for the extra hazardous duty pay and, as he admitted, for the adrenaline rush that came with it.

Following the Army, the “Summer of Love” found Mike working a rugged job in a logging camp in Southeast Alaska. It was there he came face-to-face with something that drove the life that followed: what he termed the ‘thoughtless destruction of our environment.” Seeing the scale of the consequences of what we do to our world, Mike’s worldview honed. Ahead of many, he became a dedicated, pragmatic environmentalist from that time on. And the push for what was next and the adrenaline of the battle were always part of him.

Thus began a lifelong quest to better and change himself and the world that included training and degrees throughout his life – what he called his “unfinished education.” He has degrees and certificates from Napa Community College, University of California, Davis (AB), California State University Chico, UCLA, the Peter Drucker Business School at Claremont Graduate University (Executive MBA), Truckee Meadows Community College and University of Massachusetts, Amherst. ?

The push for change led him from lumber camp to the policy arena. He served as staff director for the California State Senate Democratic Caucus, then as staff to several legislators, notably John Dunlap, his chosen mentor, and Assembly Speaker Leo McCarthy. From this foundation, Mike was elected to the California State Assembly in 1976 and 1978 representing the 8th District of Napa.?He loved this work, and thought he did a good job as legislator, which he attributes to an outstanding staff. For instance, you know how you can easily see in big numbers what price a gas station charges for fuel??It’s because of a bill Mike championed.?He reflected he enjoyed his policy work as a staff person more than as a legislator, however, noting that being a legislator “seemed to require more time on the job being about you…rather than public policy.”? (photo: By Mark Aranoff - Original publication: The Press Democrat)

His policy staff work formed deep friendships for life as well as an appreciation of the real work done there. Jock O’Connell, once Mike’s chief legislative aide in the Assembly and now an international economist and leading authority on California's role in the world economy, recalls that connection.?“One thing I remember is that Mike unfailingly introduced his staff as the people who worked with him, not for him. In a world of fragile egos, that humility was exceedingly rare.”

He declined to run for reelection in 1980 and focused his next years on environmental action, especially the transition away from nuclear power to alternative energy. ??He also gave reign to his wanderlust and drive to see the world’s beauty by working as a white-water rafting guide and boatman for Sobek Expeditions. His amazing and challenging trips included the rivers of Alaska, the Grand Canyon, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Chile, Turkey, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“Mike loved the land,” said four-decade friend and co-worker Lynn Sadler, who met Mike during a Jerry Brown campaign.?“Whether he was fighting for it in the army, preserving and restoring it at land trusts, showing it off as a river guide, saving it from climate change, exploring it as a casual ambassador or using it to feed a community, he fully inhabited this earthly home.”?

Yet the pull of the policy realm was strong, and Mike had also found a partner who matched his energy and supported and shared his passions. Together with his wife Lacy, a skilled nonprofit leader, Mike soon returned to public service. From 1987 to 1990 he served as Deputy Mayor of the City of Los Angeles under Mayor Tom Bradley, also serving as Bradley’s chief of staff.?Mike deeply respected Bradley and considered him “the most underrated Mayor in L.A’s history.”

And he continued to battle for the environment, serving as Chair of the Metropolitan Water District and presiding as President of the L.A. Department of Water and Power Commissioners at a crucial juncture in the long water battles between L.A. and the Owens Valley. He helped broker an agreement guaranteeing the City’s rights while agreeing to restrict its water exports. It fully pleased no one; but it allowed progress both sides could live with. It was the kind of tough call Mike was well suited to make.

This commitment to pragmatic environmentalism led him in 1992 to become the first President and CEO of CALSTART, a novel clean transportation technologies consortium focused on creating good jobs while cleaning the air and reducing energy use. CALSTART today is mainstream in the battle on climate change but then some viewed it as more aspirational than real. Mike was again ahead of his time, noting, “Job creation in concert with environmental protection was our goal. Mostly it worked, but while I was too entrepreneurial during my time there and not enough of an organization man, I loved it despite my flaws.”

Although Mike may not have been an organization man, he recruited and inspired a legacy of people at every stop who continued the causes he would launch. John Boesel succeeded Mike as CALSTART’s CEO, remembering, “Mike was not just a visionary but, boy, was he willing to take?a strong stance and fight like hell to defend it. I so appreciate that Mike saw something in me and gave me a chance to work at CALSTART. I will be forever grateful for him willing to take a gamble on me.”

Mike’s questing soul would always be searching to experience what was next. Moving to Santa Fe, he worked as Vice President and Southwest Regional Director for the Trust for Public Land.?Building on that knowledge, he and Lacy moved to and bivouacked in a small cabin in Southern Washington to directly oversee the environmental remediation work of a non-profit he founded, to clean up and restore an old military firing range to public parkland.

Bill Van Amburg, who worked with Mike both at CALSTART and on his remediation non-profit board, recalls, “What kept Mike vital, and endeared him to his friends, was that tough as he could be he also never lost the little boy within.?I remember pausing with him one evening as he watched, rapt, a swarm of bats come swirling out from under a river bridge. The simple wonder and joy on his face defined what made him tick, and why you wanted to work with him.”

No single site could hold Mike long. He and Lacy were off again, living part time for a period in Ecuador, Spain and France to experience their cultures.?Then Mike in the last few years directed his considerable energy and passion to running an organic and regenerative farm in Oregon. ?

His travels on this Earth came full circle, from seeing the impacts of mass clear-cutting early in his life to tending the land with his own hands at the end. ?Mike was never one to go quietly, however. Besides writing his own auto-obituary (it’s on Facebook), he told everyone this ending was only the next beginning.??Mike had an insatiable curiosity and lifelong restlessness to satisfy, and that included embracing the end of this life as the start of his next exploration.

As a result, Mike didn’t want anyone saying goodbye, or even worse, “Rest in Peace.” Instead, he wanted to be wished “Bon Voyage!” ??Mike’s next adventure started August 23, 2021.

Happy trails, Mike. We are so much bigger and better for knowing you.?

Mike is survived by his wife Lacy, his life partner, lover and match to his energy for 39 years; his younger sister Judy Cook; his son, Damon and wife, Cindi; his stepchildren Thomas and wife Sandi; Claudia and husband Joe Escher; and Olivia; and six granddaughters, August, Makayla, Langley, Sofia, Claire and Anne.