Sunnyvale resident Mark Young pauses to read memorials to Ed Cate at the Dana Street Roasting Company. Sunnyvale resident Mark Young pauses to read memorials to Ed Cate at the Dana Street Roasting Company. (November 10, 2000)

Grief, fond memories, and community support in wake of barista's death Grief, fond memories, and community support in wake of barista's death (November 10, 2000)

By Justin Scheck

The Mountain View community this week is mourning the loss of Ed Cate, 22, the popular barista of the Dana Street Roasting Company.

Cate died Nov. 1 when his motorcycle hit bicyclist Charles Manfred on a winding stretch of Highway 84 in Woodside.

Manfred, who fell into a 100-foot-deep ravine, was taken by emergency medical technicians to Stanford Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition.

A street-side memorial for Cate was set up Thursday by friends, acquaintances, and customers outside the cafe at 744 W. Dana St. People have left flowers, pictures, poems and messages to remember Cate.

At the cafe Monday, owner Nick Chaput and employees Ashleigh Hamilton and Jason "Fitz" Fitzgerald sat down over lunch to discuss memories of their friend and co-worker.

"As a friend," Chaput said, "he had this incredible energy. Everybody was drawn to him. He had a great life force."

"He was just a wonderful person. You couldn't ask for a better person to work with, to be your friend. He was always there for me. Always," said Hamilton.

"He was the most beautiful man in the world," Fitzgerald said.

The three spoke at length of Cate's generosity, kindness, and ability to deeply impact the lives of everyone around him, even customers who knew him only from their morning coffee stops.

"Ed had a way of talking to people; he would just talk to them ... and they would open up," said Chaput.

Hamilton agreed. "People who didn't even know him would talk to him about divorces and affairs."

"When I bought it as Jumpin' Java, he was already here," Chaput said. "People have been coming up to me and saying how great it was to see him grow up over the last three years. When he came here, he was a teenager, and he left here very much a man."

Chaput said Cate's death has brought the community together in ways he did not know were possible in the rapidly changing Silicon Valley.

"What (the community response) has been for me is a kind of reinforcement of my hope that this area isn't becoming just a big, sprawling, 'everyone-for-a-buck' kind of place," Chaput said. "There's still community here ... It's really overwhelmed me. Mountain View is really a community."

Carolyn Lutticken, a customer at the cafe, said she admired Cate for his sincerity and genuine nature. "If people are just who they are, like Ed was, it makes an incredible impact on people."

Chaput, Hamilton, and Fitzgerald all said the best description of Cate was a quotation someone had left taped to the cafe's window: "Ed hated coffee and loved people."

A reception for family, friends, and customers to share stories and feelings about Cate will be held from 7-10 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15 at the Dana Street Roasting Company.

Chaput said donations in Cate's memory may be made to the Westwind Riding Institute, an organization where Cate's mother works to provide equine therapy for disabled youths. Donations may be sent to: Westwind Riding Institute, Attn.: Robert Street, 27210 Altamont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022.