Obituaries

Tony Brazil

Widely known and loved for his support of local youth, Petaluma rancher and livestock auctioneer Antone “Tony” Gonsalves Brazil died peacefully at his home Aug. 24. He was 96. For more than 60 years, Brazil had sponsored a little league team while also volunteering his auctioneering skills to the local junior livestock auction, helping it become one of the largest in the state. Of Portuguese descent, he was also an important figure in regional Portuguese societies with vast knowledge and pride in his heritage.

“My dad was a loving husband and father, with a generous and humble heart,” said Terri Hohener, one of Brazil’s six children. “A hard worker with a sense of humor, he loved kids and was very community spirited.”

Brazil was born in 1926 in Sausalito to Elias and Maria Brazil, immigrants from the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago west of Portugal. Elias and Maria were part of the large Portuguese community of dairy farmers in southern Marin County.

After graduating from Tamalpais Union High School in 1945, Brazil became a partner with his father in the family dairy business. They built up a herd of about a hundred milking cows and eventually purchased an 800acre ranch in Muir Woods-Franks Valley.

Brazil met Theresa Avila, whose parents were also from the Azores, at a social function of one of the many Portuguese societies in the region, some of which still function today. The couple married in 1950.

In 1955, the state bought Brazil’s ranch, enabling the family to relocate to Petaluma in 1960 where they established a cattle ranch and built their own home on a low hill east of town. He also bought the Petaluma Livestock Auction.

A self-taught auctioneer, Brazil never formally retired from the auction. Only the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to his regular weekly schedule of orchestrating the sale of pigs, goats and cattle. Today, the auction operation is owned and managed by Brazil’s son, Manuel.

A fixture of Petaluma Little League, Brazil sponsored the Lucky 7 team, named for his ranch, for six decades.

“Win or lose, Tony would always treat the boys to hot dogs at the food stand after the game,” said Corinna Neve, whose two sons played on the team. “He rooted for the kids.”

Neve is the widow of Petaluma farmer Robert Neve, who was one of Brazil’s closest friends.

“Tony was truly old-time Petaluma,” she said. “He was the salt of the earth.”

To support local 4-H and Future Farmers of America programs, Brazil donated his auctioneering skills to the Junior Livestock Auction at the Sonoma County Fair for 63 years.

Having grown up in the world of Portuguese-owned dairy farms in Marin County, Brazil was a valuable resource for historians interested in the North Bay. He had deep knowledge of the early dairies, ranches and slaughterhouses in the region, as well as of regional Portuguese societies — a world where people worked the land, helped one another and practiced self-sufficiency.

Mike Moyle, a local historian associated with the Sausalito Historical Society, has a particular interest in the early days of the hundreds of Portuguese dairies in Marin County. He valued Brazil’s deep knowledge of the North Bay Portuguese community and dairymen.

“Tony had an excellent memory for the details and was wonderfully helpful,” Moyle said. “He even prepared a handwritten map for me of the many Portuguese dairies in southern Marin County back in those early years.”

Ken Gonsalves, of Lake Shastina, remembers Brazil as “a man of integrity that I want to emulate and teach my kids to emulate.”

Gonsalves’ father, Norman Gonsalves Sr., was a close friend of Brazil. The two men played leadership roles in local Portuguese organizations.

“He was a man you could respect and admire,” Gonsalves said.

Brazil is survived by his wife of 71 years, Theresa Ann Brazil, 89; their six children, Terri Brazil Hohener, Gerry Maffei, Antoinette Brazil, Manuel Brazil, Tony Brazil Jr. and Jeanette Jennings; 10 grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren.

Memorial article reprinted from the Petaluma Argus-Observer.

wedding bells

Bianchi & Pirnik

Erica Bianchi and Steven Pirnik were wed in a ceremoney on August 6 at Paicines Ranch surrounded by family and friends.

The parents of the bride are Robert and Chris Bianchi, Gilroy. The parents of the groom are Jim and Michelle Pirnik of San Jose. The bride is a managing partner at her family's BR Beef, LLC and the groom has a career as a plumber. The couple has made their first home in Gilroy.

To submit your family news, obituaries, weddings and birth announcements, contact the CCA office at (916) 444-0845 or e-mail us at magazine@calcattlemen.org.