Longtime Pleasanton architect, historian and community leader Charles Huff passed away of natural causes on August 31, 2023. He will be remembered as a loving husband, father and grandfather and someone with a giant smile and dry wit who always made you feel like the most important person in the room.

A celebration of his life will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, September 11, 2023, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1225 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton, California. A reception will follow at the Veterans Memorial Center, 301 Main St., one of the many historic downtown Pleasanton buildings he adored.

Charles’ life began in Berkeley on May 31, 1948, the only child of James and Ruth Huff. While he would later return to his NorCal roots, he spent most of his childhood in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier. He would wake up early for his Los Angeles Times paperboy route and spend his free time surfing in Huntington Beach. When he was 12, he joined a Baptist church and was inspired by a parishioner who practiced architecture. That man offered him a part-time internship after school, sparking his six-decade love affair with designing homes and other buildings. At California High School, he enjoyed being a yell-leader and track sprinter, specifically excelling at the 100-yard and 220-yard dashes. To this day, Charles still holds a school record in the 220, at 21.7 seconds.

While he wasn’t sure if his grades were up to snuff to get into college, it was his fast feet that landed him a track scholarship to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It was a wild time to be on a college campus in the late ’60s and early ’70s and “Chuck” enjoyed many a party, and perhaps a few protests. He also took on some odd jobs, such as serving as an armed night watchman for a garlic field and leading tours at Hearst Castle. He left Cal Poly with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, but the crown jewel of his college experience was a transformative 24th birthday party at the Cigar Factory (a San Luis Obispo bar; Charles never once smoked).

That’s where he first met Kathleen Rominger. A couple months later, Charles mustered up the courage to ask her on a date. Changing the venue, Charles invited himself over to her house for a barbecue and brought a cheap steak and an even cheaper bottle of Spañada wine. Despite these selections, Kathleen loved him anyway and they married in April 1974. They moved to the San Jose area, where Charles took on various architectural jobs.

They would often travel from San Jose to visit family near Sacramento. Along the way, they would stop in at the deli in the famous Cheese Factory in downtown Pleasanton.

“And I thought to myself, wow, what a charming town,” Charles recently said. “We thought this would be a nice place to raise a family.”

Indeed. In 1980, with newborn Ryan in hand, they set up life in Pleasanton, not knowing what a tremendous impact the community would have on them and vice versa. They supported their boys (Tyler was born in 1983) through their many school and extracurricular activities, including track, baseball, soccer, football and Boy Scouts. Charles volunteered civically and as an assistant scoutmaster and track coach. Growing tired of the San Jose commute, Charles in 1985 set up his own architectural firm, called Charles Huff AIA Architect. Over the next 38 years, he would go on to design more than 1,400 Tri-Valley homes and businesses and several in the Monterey Bay Area, including a remodel of John Steinbeck’s former home.

Charles was a storyteller. And he developed an interest in historic buildings and how they got there. So he served as the city’s unofficial historian, documenting Pleasanton history and leading downtown tours with stories of early settlers, underground tunnels, movie locations, murders, speakeasies and brothels. Along the way, business owners would tell Charles about ghostly encounters they experienced in older buildings. Charles then created a ghost tour, which carries on to this day, with Museum on Main staff turning it into an annual Halloween Ghost Walk event.

Charles also served as a member of the Downtown and North Pleasanton Rotary groups, vice president of the Pleasanton Jaycees and board member for the Museum on Main, a historic building he helped renovate in the 1980s. In 1990, Charles received the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award for the restoration of the old Pleasanton Train Station, where his office was located for more than 20 years. In 2006, Kay and Charles earned the Chamber’s Distinguished Individual Service Award.

Charles loved going to parties with family and friends, telling jokes, standing around a barbecue with an oaky chardonnay, watching Warriors games and attending classic car shows, track meets and community events.

“I’ve been fairly lucky my whole life,” Charles said ahead of a lifetime achievement honor he earned in 2022, the Ed Kinney Community Patriot Award. “And I wouldn’t change a thing. With all the opportunities that Kay and I have had, we’ve met some wonderful people and made great friends.”

Charles is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Kathleen Huff; sons Ryan and Tyler Huff; daughter-in-law Laurie Huff; and granddaughters Norah (10) and Savannah (8). Charles was preceded in death by his parents. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Charles Huff Memorial Fund at the Museum on Main: https://www.museumonmain.org/….

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