Michael Warren
Our beloved husband, father and “Pops,” Mike Warren, passed away suddenly at home on Sunday, January 23, 2022. He spent his final weekend doing what he loved most—being with family and long-time friends and telling stories.
Mike was born on March 31, 1945, in Los Angeles. His family moved around, living in Washington State and Hawaii before settling in Glendale in the mid-’50s. Mike attended Glendale High School where he graduated in 1963. He went on to UCSB, where he played football and was a member and a president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Mike graduated in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He also earned a master’s degree in education and administrative services from Cal Poly. While attending UCSB, he reconnected with a high school acquaintance, Nancy Son, and they were married in Reno on January 6, 1968. Mike and Nancy grew their family with two children, Jennifer and Kevin.
Mike returned to Glendale in 1969 to help coach football at Hoover High but soon returned to the South Coast as the head coach at Carpinteria High School (1971-1974) before accepting the head football coaching job at Lompoc High (1975-1984). He left Lompoc to lead UCSB’s revival of intercollegiate football, where he was the head coach for three years (1986-88), before returning to Lompoc High School as the athletic director, where he served for 11 more years.
Mike and Nancy then returned to the Santa Barbara area. He served for six years as a director of training and education for Computer Motion, Inc., a Goleta firm that pioneered robotic surgical systems. From there, Mike served as the executive director of the Elings Park Foundation for nearly three years and as athletic director and associate dean of educational programs at SBCC from 2006-2010. Mike returned to the world of robotics/remote presence at InTouch Health, serving as director of training & education until 2013. Not ready to be fully retired, he then became a registered financial advisor, working with his good friend, Tim Tremblay, at Tremblay Financial Services. In each of these positions, Mike was able to utilize his skills of building teams and developing colleagues through supportive mentoring relationships.
Spending time with family and friends was Mike’s greatest source of joy. Summer trips to Refugio and Lake Tahoe, ski trips to Sierra Summit and Mammoth and reuniting with long-time friends created a lifetime of memories. Mike stayed physically active with daily walks and workouts and even started Pilates classes! He enjoyed spending time working in the yard, reading and traveling. He was a proud grandpa and “Pops” to six grandchildren: Michael, Emma, Luke, Patrick, Matthew and Evan. He loved nothing more than spending time with them, cheering them on in their activities, and letting everyone know how proud he was of them.
After retirement, Mike continued to stay active in the community, serving on the board of the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table. He connected local youth sports organizations with the Positive Coaching Alliance, providing training to local coaches about how to support athletes with encouragement and positivity in order to reach their full potential. He loved attending
games at local high schools and UCSB and cheering on the student-athletes, often with his good friend and fellow coach, Gary Cunningham.
Mike is survived by his wife of 54 years, Nancy; daughter Jennifer Foster (Michael), son Kevin Warren (Leah) and six grandchildren: Michael, Emma, Luke, Patrick, Matthew and Evan; as well as his younger sister, Lani Keller (Dennis) and numerous nieces and nephews. An expansive group of friends who were like family will also carry Mike in their hearts forever.
A celebration of life will be held later in the spring. The family asks that any donations in Mike’s memory be made to the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table.