\t\t\tJeffrey Alan Dresser \t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tOBITUARY\t\t<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Alan Dresser \u2013 Jeff to everyone lucky enough to know him \u2013 passed away on July 9th at his home in San Diego, California, following complications from cerebrovascular disease. He was surrounded by his family and the friends who adored him, which is exactly how Jeff would have wanted it: encircled by the people he loved most.<\/p>\n
Jeff was born in Edina, Minnesota, on March 30, 1966. He grew up there and graduated from Edina High School with the Class of 1984, before attending Southern Methodist University and then the University of Minnesota, where he was a proud member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE). His path eventually led him west to San Diego, where he earned his degree at the New School of Architecture & Design \u2013 the city that would become his true home.<\/p>\n
Jeff built a career doing what he loved. He spent 18 years at Jacobs Laboratory Planning Group, starting as a Project Manager and rising to Principal, before moving on to Flad Architects as a Director. Design, and the way a space could function beautifully, was one of his great passions \u2013 but it was never really about the buildings. It was about the people. Jeff cherished his clients and colleagues as much as the work itself, and he brought warmth into every project and every room he walked into.<\/p>\n
Friendship, to Jeff, was its own kind of art form \u2013 something he tended with real care. He had a gift for making people feel seen, for remembering the small things that mattered to them, and for showing up exactly when he was needed. His friendships spanned decades and stretched across the country, from the friends he\u2019d known since his Edina days to the ones he gathered along the way in San Diego and everywhere in between. He was the friend people called with good news because he\u2019d celebrate it like it was his own, and the friend they called in hard times because his steadiness and humor could make anything feel more bearable. Many who loved him considered him family, plain and simple.<\/p>\n
Jason Willis was the love of Jeff\u2019s life. They built a home and a life together grounded in adventure, laughter, and an easy, abiding devotion to one another. Jason was Jeff\u2019s partner in every sense \u2013 the one who traveled the world by his side, who shared his eye for beautiful design, and who understood him completely. Theirs was a love that friends and family alike admired: playful, deeply loyal, and full of joy. Jeff considered building a life with Jason his greatest privilege.<\/p>\n
Traveling together was one of their greatest joys. They hiked trails, sought out incredible restaurants, swam in the ocean, and chased down mid-century modern architecture wherever they found it \u2013 or simply sat and watched the sunset, which was really its own kind of perfection to Jeff. Big Sur, Palm Springs, and Hawaii were among his favorite places on earth. Closer to home, he filled his life with rescued kittens, each one somehow finding its way to him and leaving with a name only Jeff could have thought up. It was the story of Jeff\u2019s whole life, really \u2013 people, animals, and good things had a way of finding him.<\/p>\n
Jeff\u2019s greatest gift was his laugh \u2013 the kind that was impossible not to catch, that made whatever room he was in feel a little lighter. He was gentle, funny, deeply loyal, and endlessly kind, and he had a rare talent for making people feel like they mattered, because to him, they always did. Everyone who met Jeff walked away a little better for it.<\/p>\n
Jeff is survived by his husband, Jason Willis; his brothers, Steve and Rich Dresser; his niece, Ali Gibbs (Trevor); his nephew, Alex Dresser (Bea), grandnephew and nieces\u2019; numerous cousins; countless dear friends across the country who considered him family. He was preceded in death by his sister, Janet Dresser; his mother, Mavis Dresser; his father, William Dresser; his very special aunt, Angie Walker (Murray); his uncle Kenneth Schultz (Bernice); his uncle Earl Dresser (Nomi) and his grandparents.<\/p>\n
He will be missed more than words can hold, by more people than could ever be named here.<\/p>\n
Celebration of Life Service will be held in Minneapolis on August 14 at Lakewood Cemetery in the Garden Mausoleum from 10-11:30 AM, followed by a private burial and in San Diego announced at a later date.<\/p>\n
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a gift in Jeff\u2019s memory to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Malama O Puna Fund, or a charity of your own choosing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Alan Dresser OBITUARY Jeffrey Alan Dresser \u2013 Jeff to everyone lucky enough to know him \u2013 passed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-404228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}