Paxson “Packy” Offield, the great-grandson of William Wrigley Jr., died this week from leukemia that he’d been fighting since diagnosis in December of 2011.
Paxson “Packy” Offield, the great-grandson of William Wrigley Jr., died this week from leukemia that he’d been fighting since diagnosis in December of 2011.
Offield was the former president and CEO and current board member for the Santa Catalina Island Company, which was formed in 1894 and acquired by the chewing gun tycoon, William Wrigley Jr, in 1919 for $3.5 million. The company’s initial goal was to develop Santa Catalina Island to attract a tourism industry, but Wrigley Jr.’s acquisition shifted the company’s focus to a more conservationist agenda, preserving the island in its natural state. Although the “island company” no longer operates the island’s utilities or ferries to the mainland, it still owns much of the roads, parks, and drainage ditches. The company also subsidizes much of the administrative operations of the town of Avalon (population: 3,728).
One could call Packy Offield a devoted conservationist having achieved leadership positions in several non-profit organizations. Aside from sitting on the board of directors of the Santa Catalina Island Company, he was also the chairman of the International Game Fish Association and the managing director of Blue Maple Real Estate. In the past, Offield worked as the first chairman of the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy and a Benefactor Member; on the board of directors of the Billfish Foundation, receiving a lifetime achievement award at their 25th anniversary dinner in 2011; the chairman of the Offield Center for Billfish Studies; the director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California; a board member for the Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species of the San Diego Zoological Society, receiving their 2006 Conservation medal; and was the chairman and director of the Pacific Region branch of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation.
Packy Offield was dedicated to conservation and the preservation of marine ecosystems in the California-Pacific region.
The Billfish Foundation writes on Facebook:
“The world has lost a wonderful human being, whose stewardship for its natural resources, thus the quality of our lives, was unmatched. He was a TBF board member, a staunch conservationist, and an avid angler. We will continue his legacy as he would have wanted us to do.”
Dr. Ann Muscot, President and CEO of the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, says,
“We lost a great friend to conservation and a tremendous supporter of the Catalina Island Conservancy. Packy was the founding chairman of the board of directors for the Catalina Island Conservancy and provided years of thoughtful counsel that will be sorely missed. Our hearts go out to his family and all who loved him. Packy also had a tremendous impact on Catalina Island itself as a businessman, philanthropist, and community leader.”
