Obituaries : * Ray Wilson; Businessman, World Traveler

Ray Wilson, a businessman and longtime Ventura County resident, has died. He was 74.

The cause of death was leukemia, his wife, Jayne, said.

Wilson grew up in Santa Monica, spending much of his free time body surfing and sailing. It was at the beach that he met Jayne. The two of them attended UCLA, and Jayne Wilson recalled a poem he wrote for her about their daily meeting at Royce Hall. It included the lines, “The day does not begin for me, the world is not alive . . . Until I meet you once again, across from Royce, at five.”

“He was such an intelligent, rich human being,” Jayne Wilson said. “Very sensitive.”

During World War II, Wilson served as an officer on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific, writing to his wife every day.

Eventually, the Wilsons moved to Santa Paula, where they raised three children. Wilson went to work for People’s Lumber, which became Real Estate Investment Trust of California. In 1980, he retired from his position there as executive vice president. He and his wife moved to Ventura and embarked on a series of travel adventures.

“Europe, India, the Galapagos, the San Juan islands, we went everywhere,” Jayne Wilson said. “We had a VW van that we drove down to Mexico and across the country twice.”

He leaves his wife, Jayne, of Ventura; a son, Dave, of Merced; daughters Nancy of Ashland, Ore., and Sally Weimer of Ventura; brothers Ted and Dick of Newport Beach and Ross of Huntington Beach; a sister, Dorothy Clawson, of Santa Monica; and four grandchildren.

The Neptune Society is handling arrangements.

Memorial contributions may be made to San Buenaventura Friends of the Library, P.O. Box 403, Ventura, CA, 93002.