Ashleigh Brilliant
Ashleigh Brilliant, author of Pot Shots, Brilliant Thoughts and several books has died. He passed away on the morning of September 24, 2025 at Cottage Hospital, where he had been for three days. His cause of death was “pneumonia, the old man’s friend”, as coined by 19th century physician, Sir William Olsen. Ashleigh passed quickly, without fuss or fanfare.
Ashleigh Elwood Brilliant was born in London, England on December 9, 1933, the first child of Victor and Amelia Brilliant and brother to Myrna Brilliant. Between the years of 1939 and 1941, Ashleigh’s home life was disrupted, due to the events of World War II. The displacement caused a move, first to his mother’s hometown of Toronto, Canada, then to Washington DC.
In 1947, Ashleigh, his parents and Myrna were able to return safely to England, where they settled in Edgeware, on the outskirts of London. The several years spent without his father, who was a British civil servant, deeply affected Ashleigh for the rest of his life.
Ashleigh was a serious student, although he didn’t enjoy every subject or the rigors of structured classes. He excelled at English and art. Despite what he considered a slow start, Ashleigh ultimately obtained the title Dr. Ashleigh Brilliant, after earning his PhD in American history from UC Berkeley.
Initially a high school teacher and then a college professor, Ashleigh married a fellow college professor, Dorothy Tucker, after they met aboard the Claremont College’s “floating university”. Dorothy was the great-granddaughter of Captain Charles P. Low, a clipper ship captain involved in the China trade, who retired to Santa Barbara around the turn of the last century, and lived with his family on a farm at the site of what is now Shoreline Park.
It was in San Francisco in the late 1960’s that Ashleigh and Dorothy made their first home, and where Ashleigh’s first epigrams were dreamed up. After a brief stint in the hippie scene, which Ashleigh admitted he was happy to move on from, he and Dorothy moved to Santa Barbara where they focused on launching and running Brilliant Enterprises, a business based on Ashleigh’s writings.
Over the years, Ashleigh involved himself in many causes, including running for Mayor of Santa Barbara in 1977. Ashleigh was not afraid to take a stance. He disliked public smoking, littering, excessive noise and pollution. Beginning in the 1950’s he was known to occupy an actual soapbox in many locations, including Hyde Park, Red Square, Golden Gate Park, Berkeley free speech square and Santa Barbara public areas.
In the late1990’s, Ashleigh formed BLAST or Ban Leaf Blowers and Save our Town, which lead to the 1997 ban on the use of gas powered leaf blowers in the City of Santa Barbara. It’s still on the books today.
Ashleigh was a man of many paradoxes. He was a staunch self-promoting introvert. He hated excessive noise and yet he made his own noise, standing on his soapbox with a bullhorn lecturing and singing the world over. He was morose and fatalistic but practiced life-extension principles. He eschewed crowds but loved a large audience. He was a conservative hippie in the ’60’s. He was a homebody who traveled the world. Food was one of his loves, but he curtailed it to be thin. He walked and rode a bicycle around town but in a November 26, 1978 News Press article, Ashleigh discussed his ideal travel, saying, “I would want to own my own airliner, rail car and land cruiser to do it in.”
Little know facts about Ashleigh are, that despite his image as a non-conformist, in 1974 he worked at Bank of America’s Los Angeles branch at 7th and Olive as a teller. He worked hard to portray an image of the serendipitous entrepreneur who barely worked. And yet, he was endlessly preparing, marketing and promoting himself to newspapers, magazines, civic organizations and businesspeople who might carry his products. While striving to project an upbeat disposition and hearty image, during an interview for the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram in 1980, Ashleigh said, “Mostly I eat, worry, watch television, go for walks, nag and complain to my wife. I’m very discontent”.
Ashleigh unabashedly nominated and promoted himself for a Nobel Prize for Literature as well as a Pulitzer for his 1979 book “ I May Not Be Total Perfect, But Parts of Me are Excellent”. To date, both prizes have eluded him. Plagued by his self-doubt, extreme sensitivity and extraordinary intelligence, Ashleigh always questioned the importance, impact and durability of his work. His actions were spurred by his need for acknowledgement and proof that his life and work were worthwhile.
Based on the legacy he’s left, and the indelible impact his words have had on generations of people, it’s clear that Ashleigh Brilliant, humorist, philosopher and master of “graffiti a la carte” has succeeded in surpassing the goal of winning the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize. Ashleigh takes the prize for being a man of integrity, a life-long warrior and someone who has lived life exactly as he pleased, without regret and with no apologies. Bravo, Ash.
Ashleigh was predeceased in death by his parents, sister and wife Dorothy, who died in 2018.
A memorial will be held for Ashleigh later this month. If you are interested in attending, please email julissa@staceywrightsb.com for details.
