Bogard, 87, founder of Bogard Construction, died Friday in his Santa Cruz home. He had been reading in his favorite blue armchair.

One of Bogard’s projects was the McPherson Center for Art and History in downtown Santa Cruz, which Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz, said he knew would be done as well as could be done under his direction.

"He will be remembered as a dedicated family man and an honest business person who was highly respected by his employees and clients," said McPherson, a family friend. "If we had more people like Victor Bogard in the world, we’d all be better off for it."

Bogard was raised on a chicken farm in Iowa and came to Santa Cruz in 1947, when the population was 14,000.

He bought his first lot for $1,260 on Opal Cliffs Drive, an especially inexpensive area due to wartime fears that the Japanese might land on the beach.

He went on to build hundreds of homes in Carbonera, the upper Westside and other areas. He donated the land for Westlake Park and its centerpiece pond to the city in the early 1950s.

John Mahaney, former mayor and retired surgeon, said he’ll never forget Bogard selling him his first home on Estates Drive on a handshake in 1960.

He had little money and no mortgage when he moved into the new home, Mahaney said.

"I couldn’t believe that. I tell people that story all the time," Mahaney said. "The Bogards are just good, religious people.

"I can’t imagine a more full life. He was a very special man, and what a wonderful way to die," Mahaney said.

Bogard’s company — now run by his three sons, and with annual earnings of $35 million — also built Twin Lakes Church, High Street Community Church, Long Marine Lab and other projects at Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz.

"He was self-taught and hired a lot of good people," said his son, Brad, for whom for Bradley Street near Westlake Park was named. "There are an awful lot of people in the community living in homes he built.

"What a generation. He rode a horse to school at age 4 and flew a plane until age 72," Brad said.

Bogard was raised Baptist, by a Dutch father who promoted good, hard work. He became a good manager of people, and was outgoing and genuinely interested in other people’s lives, Brad said.

Don Hardy, a friend who owns Hardy Insurance in Capitola, said Bogard encouraged him to start his own business.

"He was always optimistic," Hardy said.

"His question would always be ‘What has the Lord done for you lately?’ or ‘What good book have you read lately?’

"I will remember him as a strong man who honored God with his life," Hardy said.

Bogard left home at age 17 with $6 in his pocket from selling six of his father’s chickens. He scraped together $2,000 during his four Navy years — while earning just $56 per month — and started a dry-cleaning business in Iowa.

"Pretty impressive, his life, starting with six chickens he bagged from his dad," Brad said.

An avid reader who traveled to Oxford in the 1970s to buy the library of C.S. Lewis, his son passed along a Charles Dickens quote that was in his father’s wallet when he died.

"Reflect on your present blessings of which every man has many, not on our past misfortunes of which all men have some."

And how much of Bogard’s success did he attribute to his religious faith?

"All of it," his son said, without hesitation.

Services are 3 p.m. Friday at High Street Community Church.
For more information, visit www.bogardconstruction.com/vicsr.html.

Victor F. Bogard Sr.

BORN: July 15, 1915, in Sheldon, Iowa.

DIED: July 26, 2002, in Santa Cruz.

EDUCATION: Graduate, Archer High School, Sheldon, Iowa.

MILITARY SERVICE: Served in the Navy four years in the early 1930s and again during World War II.

OCCUPATION: Founded Bogard Construction in 1947, retired as president in the mid-1970s.

HOBBIES: Traveling, reading; contributor to Twin Lakes Church, High Street Community Church and Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center.

SURVIVORS: Wife Rae Bogard of Santa Cruz and Palm Springs; sons Victor Jr., Brad and Jim Bogard, all of Santa Cruz;
brothers Rich Bogaard of Iowa, David Bogaard of Santa Cruz and Calvin Bogaard of Houston; sisters Hazel Bogaard of Iowa, Leone Vander Woude of Iowa and Norma Gintert of Santa Cruz;
eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

His wife of 62 years, Nelina Bogard, died in 2000.

SERVICES: 3 p.m. Friday at High Street Community Church, 850 High St., Santa Cruz.

CONTRIBUTIONS: Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center, Building Fund, PO Box 413, Mount Hermon, CA 95041.