Michael Shaw McClaskey
June 17, 1959-Jan. 31, 2015
Danville, California

Michael was born and raised in Palo Alto, working his way through Walter Hayes, Jordan and Paly before attending Chico State -- and collecting new friends at each stop. He met Gigi Riker through his sister Julia's sorority at Cal Poly. They fell in love, married, had three children and settled in Danville.

As a child in Palo Alto, Michael and his friends joined Little League, played "mud ball" at Rinconada Park in the rain, and took apart and then rebuilt the bicycles that they used to roam the city. Family vacations were spent in Pacific Grove and at Pinecrest Lake where he learned to hunt, fish and ski, joining the Dodge Ridge race team. Pinecrest became his second home and the place where friends from Palo Alto, Cal Poly, Chico and Danville came together to form one big rollicking group. He and Gigi taught their own kids to ski, race and fish at Pinecrest and initiated the community's annual 4th of July parade, fishing contest and chili cook-off.

Michael was a generous and big-hearted guy with a quick sense of humor. He thoroughly enjoyed people and struck up conversation with everyone he met ?- from the sales person at Home Depot to the parking attendant at Kaiser Hospital. Once he had that conversation with you, you were one of his pals.

Michael was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer five years ago. During these years, two facets of his character came to the forefront ?- strength and stubbornness. He took all that medical science could throw at him without hesitation or complaint. He maintained a positive attitude throughout and stubbornly refused to let the disease stop him from doing the things he loved or being with the people that he held dear. He and the family vacationed in Hawaii and the Caribbean. He continued to work, swim, hunt, fish, and ski as long as physically able. His last hunting trip was undertaken with the help of a walker. He joined his buddies for golf weekends even when limited to driving a golf cart to deliver cold beers to his friends. He went to A's playoff games, Giants World Series games and a few Cal football games. When he died, he was one week shy of attending his 15th AT&T Golf Tournament at Pebble Beach ?- an annual event for Michael and his buddies. He was a fighter and fully determined to enjoy the time that he had.

Michael died peacefully at home surrounded by family and close friends -? as he had been all of his life. He leaves behind his loving wife of 25 years, Gigi; his beloved children, Riker, Makenna and Lily; his mother, Gerry Shaw; and sisters, Shauny Moore and Julia McClaskey. He is predeceased by his father Lou McClaskey and sister Rory Moore.