April 11, 2019
Zoltan A. “Walt” Harasty left us on April 11, 2019. He leaves his wife Jayne E. Harasty of 63 years, his daughters Sharon Guest (Jerry) of Hereford, AZ, and Valerie Scoggin (Mike) of Waxahachie, TX and son Daniel S. Harasty (Deb) of Camarillo, CA. He is survived by seven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.
He was born in Elizabeth, NJ and graduated from Dickenson College with a BA degree in political science in 1951. He then received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from Stanford University in 1954, passed the bar in 1954 and began his legal career in Los Angeles specializing in corporate and securities law.
In his early years he enjoyed working with his father building houses and obtained his general contractors license in 1952 and his real estate license in 1953. He became a partner at Tremaine & Shenk, a Los Angeles law firm and later Managing partner of Macdonald, Halsted & Laybourne, specializing in SEC matters. He received a series of NASD licenses. In 1995 he created Boardroom Consultants assisting agencies involved with welfare-to-work laws. He later became chairman of the Santa Barbara chapter of SCORE (Service Corps or Retired Executives) and was named Business Person of the Year. He served as general counsel to the Pioneer Chicken Company, Malibu Grand Prix Corporation and Nanco Holdings. He was and Adjunct Professor teaching corporate law at Santa Barbara College of Law.
His lifetime passion was sharing his thoughts on financial literacy. He would offer children “$20 for 20 minutes” if they would listen to his “grandfather wisdom”. Another passion was his love of photography. He took classes throughout his life and would photograph weddings, parties and every family/friend gathering.
In his retirement years he told everyone his home in Solvang, CA was “paradise”. he photographed every season through his office window. He enjoyed spending afternoons in Jayne’s garden and often said, “I think this is about as good as it gets”.
A Celebration of Life is pending.
