The Santa Barbara community is mourning a beloved local veterinarian and pet clinic owner who fell to his death in a paragliding accident on Sunday.
Dr. Ron Faoro, 60, was owner and clinician at St. Francis Pet Clinic, 138 W. Ortega St. He had worked at the clinic since the early 1980s and was a former president of the California Veterinary Medical Association.
Authorities say Faoro and his 16-year-old daughter set out Sunday morning on a tandem paraglider descent from La Cumbre Peak above Santa Barbara.
According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Faoro was not adequately clipped in to the harness and during the course of the ride, he became detached from the paraglider and fell to the canyon below.
Faoro’s daughter, who was not an experienced pilot, stayed strapped into the glider and eventually crashed into a tree on a side ridge. She was rescued with only minor injuries.
Later that day, Faoro’s body was located in Rattlesnake Canyon.
Faoro fell an estimated 1,000 feet, based on eyewitness accounts, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said Monday.
The Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau is investigating the cause and manner of death, but Hoover noted that the investigation won’t include technical issues related to paragliding equipment or paragliding procedures.
A native of Portland, Faoro attended the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Washington State University School of Veterinary Medicine, according to his biography on the St. Francis Pet Clinic’s website.
He started working at the clinic not long after he graduated from veterinary school, and he lived with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Sierra, in Santa Barbara.
According to friends, the family lost their home in the 2008 Tea Fire that swept through the foothills above Santa Barbara and Montecito.
On Monday, staff at St. Francis Pet Clinic were reeling at the news of Faoro’s death.
“It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Dr. Ron Faoro,” the clinic said in a statement.
“He was an amazing veterinarian, clinic owner, mentor and friend. At this time the family and staff has requested privacy as they struggle to handle this sudden and unexpected loss.”
John Greynald of the Santa Barbara Soaring Association expressed sadness about Faoro’s death on Monday and offered sympathies to his family.
“It’s a big shock,” he told Noozhawk.
Greynald said Faoro’s death was the first paragliding fatality in the area since 1978, when a paraglider’s equipment broke after he set sail near La Cumbre Peak.
He said Santa Barbara is a “mecca” for free-flying, and that people come from all over the world to train and fly here.
There are thousands of flights that occur from local mountains, and on a good day, Greynald said, up to 30 pilots can be seen sailing through the hills.
“We have a very tight community,” he said. “We all know each other.”
Greynald said Faoro had recently hiked a large portion of the 2,663-mile Pacific Crest Trail, and was planning to resume the trek with his daughter.
Conditions were good on Sunday, even though winds were strong, said Greynald, who was in the area when Faoro launched from near La Cumbre Peak.
Greynald said he suspects Faoro’s leg straps may not have been fastened, but pointed out that it’s impossible to know whether something was missed in a pre-flight check or if something went wrong later.
What he does know is that Faoro and his daughter had been in the air about five minutes before witnesses spotted Faoro falling.
“We’ll probably never know the details of what happened in the moments before his death,” he said. “We can only imagine the trauma to his daughter is overwhelming. Thank God she didn’t get hurt.”
News of Faoro’s death stunned his large network of friends in California, Oregon and elsewhere, according to Faoro’s long-time friend, John McGuigan, who lives in Portland.
McGuigan knew Faoro since before kindergarten and the pair attended grade school, high school and college together.
“He was always the smartest kid in any class,” McGuigan said, adding that Faoro had an insatiable intellectual curiosity and became highly proficient in medicine, mycology, and the Italian language, among many other subjects.
Faoro was also was “truly adventurous and a keen outdoorsman,” and was planning to return to the Pacific Crest Trail for his next 500 mile hiking segment and then ride his bike for a week around the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon, McGuigan said.
Despite his professional success and numerous hobbies, Faoro never forgot where he came from, never forgetting his childhood friends, he said.
“Recently, Ron gave a vehicle to a childhood friend in Portland who had fallen on hard times and needed support,” McGuigan said, adding that with that vehicle, the friend was able to find a job that required personal transportation and is now gainfully employed.
“Ron was clearly one of a kind,” he said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to Elizabeth and Sierra and Ron’s mother and two sisters in Portland.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
