Frank W. DeVore knew his company like few could.
He started his 37-year career with San Diego Gas & Electric by digging ditches and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the company's vice president of governmental affairs.
Mr. DeVore oversaw projects that transformed the company in the 1960s and 1970s. And through the offices he ran in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., he perfected the art of navigating through government bureaucracy to complete projects.
"Frank was a people person in that he could read people very, very well," said Dennis Richter, a retired vice president of public affairs for SDG&E.
"He was a very forceful man. What you saw is what you got from Frank. He spoke forthright, and you could shake hands afterward and be happy."
Mr. DeVore of Rancho Bernardo died Thursday after undergoing an MRI. He had fallen the week before, and struck his head. He was 77.
He was born March 16, 1928, at home in Huntingdon, Penn. When he was a child, the family moved to Mount Corian, Penn., where Mr. DeVore's father worked as assistant superintendent of the North America Brickyard.
Upon his father's death, Mr. DeVore dropped out of school in the eighth grade to help support his mother and sisters. He washed windows and mowed lawns, and worked in a clothing store and on his uncle's farm.
"I think that set the tone for his work ethic all of his life: to work hard and take care of your family," said his daughter, Nancy Murry.
Mr. DeVore's last job before entering the Navy in 1945 was at the Armstrong Cork Co. in Lancaster, Penn., making .50-caliber bullets and 105 mm shell casings during World War II.
In 1946, Mr. DeVore came to San Diego as a Navy cook. That July, he was at the downtown USO when he spotted a girl he wanted to ask out for the Fourth of July. The girl was busy, but her friend, Tillie Tombaugh, was free.
Tillie agreed to the date, thinking she might meet someone else.
"Well, we hit it off pretty good that weekend," Tillie DeVore said, chuckling.
The couple, both 18, were married in October. In those days, Tillie DeVore said, a man wasn't considered a man until he was 21. So Mr. DeVore had to ask his mother's permission to get married.
"My father said it would last six months," Tillie DeVore said.
When Mr. DeVore was discharged from the Navy, he found work with SDG&E digging ditches for 92 cents per hour. He worked his way up as a surveyor, draftsman, government right-of-way agent, manager of the land department and vice president of governmental affairs.
Among Mr. DeVore's proudest achievements was the acquisition in the late 1960s of the Mt. Empire Electric Co-op, which more than doubled SDG&E's service area.
He also was responsible for developing several Southern California power plants, including the Encina Power Plant in Carlsbad and the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista, and acquiring the land for two major power lines.
Through his negotiations, he earned a reputation as a persuasive, stand-up guy who could get things done. In the 1970s, he pushed for a land dispute between SDG&E and the city of San Diego to be taken to the California Courts of Appeal and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Lou Goebel, an attorney who represented SDG&E in the case.
The company eventually won, Goebel said. "He stood alone and pushed it to the point where it could be done," Goebel said.
Outside the office, Mr. DeVore was friends with former Rep. Clair Burgener and active in the local Republican Party.
After 37 years with SDG&E, he retired and started a consulting business, helping clients such as Westinghouse and General Electric secure government approval for their projects.
In 2004, Mr. DeVore, four other retired executives and the widows of two others sued SDG&E's parent company, Sempra Energy, for $12 million for violating their pension agreement.
Goebel said yesterday that the company has agreed to the plaintiffs' requests.
Upon retiring from consulting after 10 years, he was able to spend more time fly-fishing, hunting and golfing. He and his wife would spend six months of the year at their summer home in Montana.
Mr. DeVore's fishing – he was a believer in catch-and-release – took him across the northwestern United States and into Canada and to New Zealand, where he traveled in November.
Mr. DeVore was happiest with his family, be it camping or barbecuing with his daughters and grandchildren.
"He adored his kids and, he'd do anything for them," Tillie DeVore said.
Survivors include his wife and daughters Susan Palmieri of Escondido and Nancy Murry of San Carlos; four grandchildren; sisters Marion Otthofer of Millersville, Penn., and Kathleen Runk of Elkhorn, Wis.; stepbrother Richard Charles of Eugene, Ore.; and stepsister Janet Herman of Columbia, Penn.
A celebration of life is planned for 1 p.m. Friday at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church, 17010 Pomerado Road.
Donations may be sent to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Attention: Michelle Tucker, P.O. Box 8249, Missoula, MT 59807-8249.
