Otto G. Stoll Dies; Activist Championed Housing, Public Safety

Civic activist Otto G. Stoll--who effectively fought for housing and public safety causes despite a years-long battle with a rare form of coronary disease--has died of complications from his fourth heart transplant. He was 51.

After leaving a career as a public relations executive for Fortune 500 companies, Stoll immersed himself in civic life in Thousand Oaks for the last decade, tackling difficult, sometimes unpopular, social justice issues of poverty and race.

Despite his failing health, the husband and father of four served on committees to increase funding for public safety, worked to build affordable housing in this affluent community and served on a slew of community task forces and committees.

His friends describe the dark-haired, bearded Stoll as a quietly witty man, intensely bright and full of compassion for the less fortunate.

“Never once did you hear him complain about his station in life, about having to go through such considerable pain or about having to slow down and take all the medicines they [doctors] gave him,” said the Rev. John Nagel of the United Methodist Church of Westlake Village. “He was so positive and upbeat. He was able to keep others in mind despite what he went through.”

On Wednesday night, Stoll died at UCLA Medical Center--where he had stayed since his last heart transplant in March--after his liver and kidneys failed. He was surrounded by his wife--whom he had known since preschool--one son, and Nagel and his wife.

Not long before Stoll died, his wife of 17 years, Jane, rubbed his hand and told him that his latest affordable housing crusade had been unanimously endorsed by the City Council a night earlier.

“He cared so much about the Village Inn [housing project], and I think he wanted to see it through,” said Mayor Mike Markey. “Once he got his 5-0 vote, I think he was ready to go. . . . He’ll be sorely missed.”

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Through his work in the Area Housing Authority and the nonprofit group Many Mansions, Stoll put his deep faith into action, said Dan Hardy, executive director of Many Mansions.

“He was a rare champion of the poor in our community,” Hardy said Thursday. “As far as I’m concerned, he was a true Christian, in every sense of the word. He put his money where his mouth was.”

Stoll, whose deep voice still carried the clipped tones of New Jersey, suffered from transplant coronary artery disease--a progressive terminal illness that weakened donor hearts over time until they would fail. His immune system would essentially start a low-grade rejection of each transplant as soon as he received it.

Because a previous transplant had given Stoll hepatitis, he was able to accept donor hearts infected with the disease that no one else wanted.

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Even through his illness, Stoll would attend the sporting events of his two younger sons, both in their teens.

“We just feel very fortunate for the extra time we’ve had with him,” said his son, Andrew Stoll, 22. “That’s how we looked at all the time in nine years that he’s been having transplants. We’re proud of what he’s accomplished with that time.”

He kept involved with Many Mansions, plotting strategy, petitioning elected officials and, earlier this year, attending the dedication of a transitional living facility named Stoll House.

“Getting to know Otto was kind of like a rush,” said Councilwoman Judy Lazar, a friend for five years. “It was all or nothing. Otto let you know what he thought about all issues and all causes. He wouldn’t hesitate in the least to let share his viewpoint--but never in an inflammatory way.”

Stoll first made a splash in local politics when he campaigned for increased funding for law enforcement, spearheading a petition drive to see that every penny of revenue generated by the voter-approved Proposition 172 would go to the county’s public safety agencies.

After Stoll presented the Board of Supervisors with 58,000 signatures, the board quickly passed the measure into law.

He also campaigned for a stadium at Westlake High School, participated in political campaigns and briefly began his own race for City Council before withdrawing for health reasons.

Sheriff Larry Carpenter, who met Stoll through the public safety campaign, described him as “a true statesman.”

“No matter what the battle, or how bitter it got, you could always count on Otto to take the moral high ground,” Carpenter said of his friend. “To paraphrase an old cowboy saying, he was really tough, but he was never mean and never small.”

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Positioning himself as the community’s conscience, Stoll willingly defended causes that were unpopular with some of his neighbors.

Not long after city code regulators cracked down on an immigrant shantytown in Old Town, Stoll chastised some residents who blamed the conditions on illegal immigration instead of poverty.

Not long thereafter, Stoll and other Many Mansions backers urged the City Council to ignore the heated rhetoric about immigration and approve a transitional living center in the same neighborhood for women trying to get back on their feet, despite residents’ concerns.

“Otto was very, very sick that night,” Hardy recounted. “And we had all spoken and were ready to leave. But he insisted on staying. He leaned over and told me, ‘I want to stick around and look them in the eye to make sure they vote the right way on this.’ And they did.”

A shrewd political observer and strategist, Stoll had been active in the Rotary, once served as chairman of the Thousand Oaks Citizens Budget Task Force and was tapped as Conejo Valley Man of the Year.

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He had a heart attack in 1979 and underwent bypass surgery a year later. Not long thereafter, one of the bypasses failed and Stoll suffered another heart attack. He then added his name to the long list of people awaiting new hearts. The first transplant brought on a rare form of infection, so Stoll returned to the transplant line. Repeatedly.

The way County Supervisor Frank Schillo--who worked closely with Stoll for affordable housing--sees it, “Otto gave his heart to this community.”

Added business associate and close friend Tom Parker, a former FBI agent who runs a security firm: “I don’t think the community is really going to know what we’ve lost for years to come. Otto was one of those guys content to work behind the scenes to solve problems. He got things done.”

In addition to his wife, Stoll is survived by his four sons, Greg, Andrew, David and Robert. A public memorial service, planned for the United Methodist Church of Westlake Village, has not yet been scheduled.