[As Originally Published in the November 2012 Ladera Times] 

On October 18, Jeff Blugrind took his own life.  It's an incomprehensible act for anyone to consider, but especially difficult to comprehend given the love and respect that Jeff garnered from so many people, in so many areas of his life.

The "why?" behind any suicide is always complicated.  It's made more difficult to those who saw Jeff’s positive and upbeat personality.  People will make suppositions and guesses as to what caused Jeff to think that suicide was the only option… and to a person, they will all be wrong.  In truth, only Jeff knew the answer, so to speculate or to judge is folly.  

A normal obituary would list a person's accomplishments, but there aren't enough pages in the paper to list all of Jeff's.  He made every type-A overachiever in Ladera Ranch (you know who you are) jealous.  He's landed the cover of Ladera Times and the OC Register's Ladera Post on numerous occasions and he’s been covered in dozens and dozens of articles that chronicle his incredible impact on our community.  

As I drove my son to school the day after Jeff's death, I was emotionally struck.  I see Jeff everywhere I go in Ladera Ranch.  I see him when I pass the Town Green, where he emceed numerous events and helped put on the annual menorah lighting at Hanukkah.  I see the light poles down the main streets, where holiday banners will soon hang that Jeff designed.  I see the electric carts that LARMAC uses around the community that Jeff advocated for during his 7-plus years on the HOA board.  I see him when I drive past the drop-off area at Chaparral Elementary, where he volunteered tirelessly to help calm traffic (and parents) and keep kids safe.  I see him when I pass the lighted crosswalk on Sienna, knowing that he pushed the County for safer streets for us all.  I see him when I pass the many locations in Ladera Ranch where I helped Jeff film his Telly-award winning production, "Focus On: Ladera Ranch".  I see him at Founders' Park where he was such a success factor in the many 4th of July celebrations and the Taste of Ladera.  I see him when Fire Engine 58 goes by and I think about his contributions to CEPA, the Community Emergency Preparedness Academy.  

Jeff was a friend of mine, so writing this is a difficult task, but I hope it honors him and helps others know my friend a little better.  Jeff and I met in 2004 through LaderaLife, and when I found it to be underwhelming, I joined with a few other residents to create what would later become LaderaPortal.com.  Jeff was one of the first people to register on the site and an advocate for improvements to our online community.  He was a non-voting director of LARMAC at the time, appointed by the board who hoped to groom him for a future leadership position.  They had no idea at the time how big an impact he would have.  In those early days of our friendship, I had the pleasure of designing Jeff's LARMAC campaign website and LaderaPortal endorsed his election to the board.  

Jeff had previously been a director on the board of the Aliso Viejo Community Association (AVCA) before moving to Ladera Ranch.  He always had an insatiable desire to be involved, and to be at the center of things.  Jeff's father put it best when he joked during the eulogy at his son's funeral, "Jeff suffered from Center-of-Attention Deficit Disorder".   

He grew up in the San Fernando Valley with his brother Scott.  Both of them were showmen from an early age.  Scott tells of how the bedrooms in their childhood home shared a wall, and how Scott would be in his room, jumping around with a tennis racket for a guitar and rocking out while in the next room, Jeff was imagining himself as a great DJ, with songs blaring competitively.  Scott would go on to become an actor, earning Emmy honors for a role on the NBC show Friends, and Jeff would go on to fulfill his dream of being a DJ, starting his business in March of 1981 and working Emcee, DJ, Audio, Video and Technical Producer gigs all around the country. 

DJ-ing was Jeff's way of always being at the party. He worked gigs all over the valley, from the roller rink to bar mitzvahs and weddings.  He met his wife Danielle while spinning at a hotel bar.  The two would later be married in that same hotel.  They were married for 20 years.

He also met his best friend, Clark Chuka, while DJ-ing back in 1988.  The two of them worked nightclubs from Malibu to Magic Mountain and had quite the booming business with USC frat parties. They continued working together throughout the years and were actively working on a show at Disneyland called, "Dancin' with Disney".  If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth a visit to see Jeff's genius in action.  He co-wrote the script and if you know Jeff's sense of humor and timing, you already know how great it is.

Jeff worked extensively in the TV industry, warming up audiences for various TV shows.  When a live audience was needed and a laugh track wouldn't do, Jeff was there; making audiences roll and keeping them entertained for the many hours that it took to film a sit-com.  Most recently, Jeff was working on the set of "Shake It Up!" for Disney.  He also worked on Ant Farm and Jessie.  Jeff absolutely loved Disney and had been working with the company off and on since 1995.

Jeff was a work-at-home father who adored his daughter Rachel.  He put in countless hours at her school, using his talent and connections to arrange visits from the USC marching band, actors from High School Musical and much more.  He was never satisfied with a small production.  It always had to be a cut above.  

Jeff was also a serious (notorious?) off-road enthusiast.  If you saw him driving around in his Hummer H2, you may have noticed the winch and off-road tires, but you may not have noticed the extensive repairs that had to be done after Jeff (with Danielle and Rachel inside) rolled the truck several times down a sand hill at Pismo Beach.   

I had the pleasure of accompanying Jeff on a good number of off-road adventures.  We crossed the Mojave Desert twice and took a trip to the Grand Canyon with kids.  Jeff was always eager to help out others.  I recall one cold morning when Ladera Portal co-founder Brett Buchanan and I joined Jeff on a trip to the top of Saddleback Mountain.   We discovered a couple of guys who managed to get their two-wheel drive pickup stuck in a place they never should have been.  Jeff hooked up his winch and rescued their less capable vehicle.  That was kind of iconic for how things went with Jeff.  People in need + Jeff + Cool Technology = everything he did.

We have lost someone immensely special.  There will never be another "Jeff Blugrind" in Ladera Ranch.  He set the bar way too high.  We are without a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend, a neighbor, and a civic leader.  We are missing the talents of a beloved emcee, TV host, video editor, and a dozen or more other incredible attributes and talents that I probably never knew about.  

There are so many stories I could tell you, and that we could all tell each other about Jeff.  Please do. Please tell them and honor and celebrate the life of Jeff Blugrind.  He will be so dearly missed.