FREMONT — John A. Dutra always felt compelled to help others, whether through sharing his time, knowledge, compassion or wealth, even when he was at his busiest building a company, a political career and raising a family.
The former state Assemblymember, Fremont City Council member and founder of a successful real estate and development firm, died May 29, according to his family. He was 86.
Dutra, a well-known Fremont resident, did what he felt was right during his years in business and public office, even if it was unpopular. He was a dedicated father and husband, and a mentor to many, according to his family, friends and colleagues.
“He led with his heart all the time,” said Gus Morrison, a former Fremont mayor and council member who served on the council with Dutra for a decade.
“I will honest to God tell you that I never ever talked to a person who was not happy doing business with John Dutra. He was very successful and he gave back,” Morrison said.
Dominic Dutra, one of Dutra’s five children, said his father’s work ethic, love for his family and the example he and his wife Bernadine Dutra set of being humble and kind, built a template for success for his entire family.
The son of Azorean immigrants, Dutra was born Oct. 15, 1935, and raised in Oakland’s Jingletown. As the eldest son, he went to work at the age of 8 delivering newspapers and groceries to earn money to help his mother support their family after his father died.
He later dropped out of high school to join the Navy, where he was trained as a hospital corpsman and served in the Marines, his family said.
After the military, he worked at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory as a hazards control instructor. He met and married Bernadine, and they began raising a family together, while he earned his GED, and then went to San Jose State University to earn a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration.
“We aren’t a perfect family; he wasn’t a perfect person. We have flaws and challenges just like every family. But we would never have the opportunities that we’ve been provided without my dad,” said Dominic Dutra, who also served on the Fremont council for six years and runs his own real estate consultancy.
“I went on to college and got my MBA at Santa Clara University because I saw that my dad did that. I could build and run a company because my dad did,” Dominic said.
“He helped us understand what true success was all about. It was to help people,” he said.
Dutra lived in the Bay Area his entire life, but Fremont was closest to his heart. It’s where he lived for 50 years, where he started his eponymous real estate company in 1972 with Bernadine, and where he died, according to Dominic.
Dutra’s company eventually joined Red Carpet Real Estate as it expanded, later becoming Dutra Real Estate, with 250 agents in offices around the East Bay. It earned top rankings in the region before being sold to Prudential in 1999, Dominic said.
Today, the family’s real estate development and investment firm, Dutra Enterprises, is run under the leadership of Dutra’s two other sons, John J. Dutra and Tony Dutra.
Dominic said it was after being appointed to Fremont’s Planning Commission in 1981 that his father took an interest in helping Fremont grow as a member of the City Council.
Dutra was elected to the City Council in 1986 during a special election to fill the seat left open by Morrison after he was elected to the mayor’s office, and Dutra was re-elected in 1987 and 1991.
During his time on the council, Dutra advocated for programs and policies to help others, including leading the fight for the city’s first homeless shelter, now called Sunrise Village. The shelter was not a popular idea at the time, according to Dominic Dutra and Morrison.
“He took a huge amount of grief for the homeless shelter,” Dominic said. His father also successfully pushed for the construction of one of the city’s first affordable and senior housing projects, on land formerly owned by the Sisters of the Holy Family in Mission San Jose.
“We all sense that fear of having people say bad things about us and opposing us, but he never let that stop him from doing what was right for those less advantaged,” Dominic said.
Morrison noted that Dutra also cast a vital vote in a split decision to approve building the Fremont Main Library on Stevenson Boulevard.
Later, as a member of the state Assembly in District 20, Dutra authored the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act, which provided millions in research grant funds for the University of California system, among other accomplishments, his family said.
“His first approach is how can we help this person, what can we do for this person,” Morrison said of Dutra.
“He would take people to his home for dinner, if someone was hungry. I don’t know how many times he might have surprised Bernie with that,” he said.
Gloria Ritchie, Morrison’s daughter, who served as Dutra’s district director when he was in the Assembly, said in a text message that Dutra “was a real genuine person, who treated the busboys as well as he treated the governors.”
Morrison recalled how Dutra often only carried hundred dollar bills. When the two were invited to a Filipino American church event many years ago, Morrison made sure to grab some money from the ATM before the service, for the collection.
“So here comes the collection basket and John opens his wallet and all he has is hundred dollar bills. He put in a hundred and I put in a twenty,” Morrison said.
“Then 10 minutes later the second collection comes around and he dropped another hundred in the pile. So it cost him $200 and it cost me $25,” he said with a laugh.
“He shared what he had. He was always trying to help anybody who needed it,” Morrison said.
Dutra is survived by his wife of 65 years, Bernadine F. Dutra, and children John J. Dutra, Cynthia, Anthony, Dominic and Diana. He is also survived by his sister Bernadette, and 13 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.
In honor of John A. Dutra, the family asks that any donations be made to One Child and Sisters of the Holy Family .