Friends Remember Man Who Died at Albany Bulb on Oct. 17

Patrick Leach, who lived at the Albany Bulb and was gravely ill with heart disease, died in the company of his friends on the Bulb on Oct. 17. He was 46.

"He spent the last couple of hours of his life laughing and joking with friends," said Bulb resident Katherine Cody, who helped take care of him in his final days. In his lap was his favorite pet, Cody's dog Eva. 

He feel asleep and died quietly in his sleep, Cody said.

The cause of death was congestive heart failure and resulting complications in his lungs, she said. His condition grew so bad that he needed extra oxygen and had been taken to a hospital on Tuesday but wanted to return to the Bulb. So Cody secured a portable oxygen generator that allowed him to return on Wednesday and stay in her tent, she said.

The Albany Police log lists the death as a "Coroner's Case," the typical designation for non-suspicious deaths, reported at 5:27 a.m.

Leach, known also by his skateboarding name "Penske" or "Penske 43," spent part of his youth in Virginia and part in the Bay Area, his friends said. His father was in the Navy, and the family moved several times, according to Bulb resident Amber Whitson.

"He was one of the funniest, sweetest, most trustworthy people that you could ever know," Whitson said. "He is one of the closest friends I ever had."

"He loved skateboarding, punk rock music, pranks, government conspiracies, freedom, truth, military aircraft, and good food," Whitson said.

Cody said, "He was intelligent and caring and a really good and honest person. I really loved him and I'm going to miss him. ... He had a scathing sense of humor. Nothing was sacred."

For several years, he enjoyed going to the UC Berkeley campus and making large soap bubbles the size of beach balls, Cody said.

When he became seriously ill, Whitson said, Cody "and his best friend, Carrie, took very good care of him, and made sure that he never went without anything that he needed." Cody cleared out her tent to make room for his chair when he returned from the hospital on Wednesday, Whitson said.

Leach's tent stood on a platform of Bulb-scavenged bricks that he laid himself before he became too ill for that kind of work, Whitson said.

Whitson said that when she conducted an Unsheltered Homeless Needs Assessment at the Bulb, Leach wrote across the "Housing Status" chart:

"Albany Bulb: The only place where, if you're not a dick/thief, people leave you alone."

Anyone wishing to share remembrances or condolences are invited to do so in the comments section below.