My deepest sympathy to Warren’s family. He and I were roommates during our first year at Pacific School of Religion. We roomed in Benton Hall and got to know each other well. I feel badly that we lost touch with each other over the years but am glad to learn of his faithful commitment to the common good of all. 

Aloha,

Neal MacPherson

Warren Bonta was one of the most principled people I know. He lived his values. He “walked the walk” throughout his career. And in his retirement, he continued' this lifelong pattern.

We both served on Renaissance Society’s Membership, Diversity, and Community Engagement Committee for the last five years. A meeting didn’t pass where Warren didn’t raise at least one question about including Sacramento’s many diverse communities in our outreach efforts. He would bring a calendar of community events and would recruit us. By now, I’ve been to events ranging from art shows to music events to Black Lives Matter meetings, from community fairs to community demonstrations - because of Warren.

In 2018, Warren and I were both on a Sister City Delegation from Sacramento to San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. Warren easily met and mixed with the people of San Juan, tried his hand at making Nicaraguan pottery, and fearlessly zip lined over coffee fields. A passionate traveler!

Warren was one of a kind - and I will miss him.

Warren was a lovely person & good neighbor. We just moved back from Maui. Last month I saw furniture being moved out & today other items in plastic bags. I was suspicious & contacted a fellow neighbor & found out he had died!  may he Rest In Peace!  Peaceful journey, Warren.

MaryMargaret Baker

Warren truly was the love of my life.

I had a difficult childhood. I felt Warren’s love was my reward for getting through childhood with my humanity intact. When I would tell him that he would smile and pull me closer.

That’s all you really need to know about Warren—he was loving and kind. But, if that is not enough, I would also describe him as compassionate, adventurous, industrious, a champion of social justice, delightfully nerdy, a serious book collector, witty, tenacious (sometimes to the point of stubbornness), and a super fan of women’s basketball.

Warren and I first met in the eighties at the California State Department of Health Services where he managed the Rural Health Program, and I was his Personnel Analyst for a short while. Our paths did not cross again until the late nineties at the Chester Himes Black Mystery Writers Conference in Oakland, California. I was signing my very first novel. I looked up and there he stood with that killer smile of his.

“Hello, Terris, do you remember me?” he asked.

Sweetie, I will never forget you.