Paul Vincent Carroll
May 6, 1953-Feb. 24, 2020
Redwood City, California

Paul Vincent Carroll, our most beloved father, husband, brother, and friend, died two years ago on February 24th, 2020, at home surrounded by family. We sincerely apologize for the late notice — it is by no means a reflection of how dear he was to us. He is survived by his wife, Orna Santo-Carroll; his children, Kate and Patrick; his stepsons, Nimrod Santo and Shachar Santo, and Shachar’s son Aiden; and his siblings, Charles, Christina Carroll-White, Denise Schwandt, Kato Wittich (wife of Charles), Carey White (husband of Christina), Michael Schwandt (husband of Denise), and Lauren Macaulay (wife of Paul’s deceased brother, John David), as well as nieces and nephews Jack, Lizzie, Emily, CJ, Liza, Nick, Zoe, Gemma, and Quinn.

Paul was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, the second child of John and Marie Carroll. He went to the University of Virginia, but left after three years to pursue a newfound interest in ballet. He studied at Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, supporting himself by waiting tables and driving a taxicab. An excellent dancer, he struggled with his other odd jobs, almost hitting someone on his first day as a cabbie and spilling drinks on a well-known actor during one table-waiting shift. He danced professionally in Illinois for a year or two before an injury made him give up dance for the law, which he studied back at the University of Virginia.

During Paul’s time in New York, he met his first wife, Lisa Carnochan. Once he finished his law degree, the two of them moved across the country to California. He worked for Keker and Brockett (now Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP) for several years, before leaving the firm to set up practice as a sole practitioner. Out of the house, he built an environmental-law practice protecting endangered species and their habitats, a practice he supplemented with work in criminal appeals.

Paul was a man of many hobbies and interests. He loved animals from an early age. When he was in high school he found a baby raccoon, abandoned by its mother and surrounded by dead siblings. He hid the raccoon in his jacket for the rest of the school day and the bus ride home. For that whole summer, Victor was his constant companion, a spirit of mischief and affection. Paul was also an avid birder who shared the gift of birdwatching widely. He bought binoculars for many in his life and offered his encyclopedic knowledge of birds to all. While in New York City, he fell in love with orchids and began to collect them. With little regard for comfort, he kept his apartment warm and humid for his orchids, to the extent that paint was often falling off the walls. He frequently had upwards of ten orchids blooming at a time and eight to ten times that under his care. In his forties, he took up woodworking and made many pieces of furniture that began to fill his home. Around this time he also began writing poetry. He took poetry classes at Stanford and joined a poetry writing group that brought him great joy for many years. He wound up publishing over fifteen poems in literary journals around the country.

Paul met Orna in 2007, at the bar at Tamarine, on University Avenue. They were married in 2014 in a beautiful ceremony at The Mountain Terrace in Woodside. Orna still tends the garden they planted together. Some of Paul’s ashes were scattered in the Baylands, where he spent many mornings watching the herons, the avocets, the pelicans, the buffleheads, the plovers. The rest are buried beneath an olive tree in the yard.

Paul’s unique spirit touched all who knew him. He possessed a rare grace, and was a profoundly giving father to his children.

Paul’s was an insidious decline. After several years of seemingly unrelated ailments, he was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, a rare neurodegenerative disease that can affect language, motor coordination, and the processing of visuospatial information. The disease, universally progressive and fatal, gradually took away Paul’s greatest joys.

Paul was fortunate to live in a state where he could choose how he wanted to leave this world. He left listening to his favorite arias, surrounded by love.

A memorial in Redwood City is planned for March 5th, 2-5 p.m. Please email kcarroll2787@gmail.com for details.