Lloyd M Malear

Lloyd Michael Malear, after suffering a long illness, passed away on March 16, 2022 at the age of 60, surrounded by loved ones.

Lloyd was born on January 30, 1962, in Pontiac Michigan to Albert and Wanda Malear. He grew up in the small nearby town of Ortonville Michigan on one of the many lakes where he spent endless days swimming in the summer, ice skating in the winter, and playing with his brother Wes and the many neighborhood kids. He played baseball and football in school and had many friends.

When he was 17 his parents sold their home in Michigan and moved to Arizona, but he wisely chose to come to Santa Barbara and live with his sister Jenny. He finished his last year of high school at Santa Barbara High and started a job with a local architect allowing him to exercise his natural talent and creativity. He became a premier designer who designed many beautiful high-end custom homes built in Santa Barbara.

In 1985 he met his wife Jocelyn Elizabeth (Betsy) Reynolds Malear, who was from Berkeley, but was in Santa Barbara visiting her sister. It was an instant love and they didn’t have to endure their long-distance relationship very long when Betsy moved to Santa Barbara to be with him.
They married in 1987, and have two children, Daniel and Leah.

If you knew Lloyd, you couldn’t miss his incredible wit and sense of humor. He could always make you laugh with his unique view on anything and fun practical jokes. He was a great organizer and planned many fun events for his family, friends, and coworkers. There were multiple dance parties, croquet games, bocce ball games, white elephant holiday parties, office racquetball tournaments and Sunday afternoon football get-togethers, when he would frequently invoke his infamous curse, “It’s not over until the Lions lose.”

Lloyd was athletic and played in the local softball league and was also a top racquetball player and participated in many local tournaments.

Lloyd had a passion for music and collected all genres. To get one of his surprise mix CDs was always a treat, as he would introduce you to something he knew you would like, but hadn’t heard before. Each Christmas he would send out his Holiday CD, and you felt lucky to be on that list of recipients. If you were fortunate enough to work with him, he brought that music to the office where you could request any song and he would always have it. He would also DJ parties for friends and family and jokingly called himself LLCoolOyd.

He was loved by so many and, even though his suffering has ended, our hearts are deeply broken that he is gone. His generous smile and sweet caring nature will lift our hearts whenever he is remembered.

Lloyd is survived by his wife Betsy Malear, son Dan Malear, daughter Leah Malear (Madison), sisters Jenny Marshall (Jim), Catherine Malear, Gayle Malear and Karen Partin (Jim), brother Wes Malear (Sandy), and many nieces and nephews. He will be missed by all.

A celebration of life ceremony will be held May 1st at the Mission Rose Garden from 2-4pm.