Susan Kay Currie, 66

Susan Kay Currie was a selfless and caring person who always put herself second to the needs and desires of others. She died Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014, at age 66 at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., of complications following heart surgery, with her husband of 40 years, Brian, and her daughter, Kia Sullivan, at her side.

 Mrs. Currie, born in Waterloo, Iowa, daughter of Leo and Virginia Quinn, was an 18-year breast cancer survivor and a world-class philanthropist and charitable fundraiser. She was the consummate organizer, leaving nothing to chance, whether it was a golf tournament or a travel vacation. She left detailed instructions for the music to be played at her own funeral service.

Services are planned for Jan. 14 at the St. Simon Catholic Parish in Los Altos, Calif.  

Susan and Brian Currie met at Motorola Semiconductor in Mesa, Ariz., in 1973. They married the following year and soon moved with their daughter Kia to California. Following 10 years with AMD the Curries founded and operated a sales representative organization (Phase II) for 12 years before retiring to the Southern California desert.

 In 1985 Ms. Currie joined the founding group of the Silicon Valley Charity Ball. In its 10-year run, the event raised some $5 million to support area causes and nonprofit groups. At meetings where the funds were allocated, Mrs. Currie was often “reduced to tears” at the dire needs of the individual charities, remembered Paulette Beemiller, a longtime friend who termed Mrs. Currie “the kindest woman I’ve ever known.”

 The year before she tested positive for breast cancer, 1995, she was named the outstanding volunteer of the year by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives for her work with the Charity Ball and other leadership roles including Peninsula Volunteers, Catholic Charities, Los Altos Newcomers, as well as Ronald McDonald House at Stanford.

 Mrs. Currie is remembered as being a great outdoors person and an ardent athlete — as a youngster she once bowled a game of 299. When she was 40 — the same year she received a degree in business with honors from San Jose State University — she ran the Los Angeles Marathon. Her favorite sport was golf. Vicki Hammer, who played golf with her in Bigfork where the Curries have a summer home, noted that “Golf was a challenge and a struggle — her best game might have been 102.”

 Not to be stopped by breast cancer or the associated bone marrow transplant, in 2000 she and Brian completed the 60-mile Avon Cancer Walk from San Jose to San Francisco. She was one of seven people selected to lead the march. She raised more than $50,000 for the event.

In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Currie is survived by her grandchildren, Bryn Hana and Kobe Quinn Sullivan; and a brother, David Quinn, of Phoenix.

Donations, in lieu of flowers, should be sent to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University or the charity of one’s choice.