Fondly remembering former Clayton city manager
Dr. Valentin Victorovich Alexeeff, a former Clayton city manager, died Dec. 11 in Santa Clara.
Val is survived by his wife of 41 years, Mary Ann, sons Mikhail and Anatoly, his brother Andrei and many loving family members. Services were held in San Francisco.
He was born March 10, 1948, in Shanghai, China. Val’s parents were Russian refugees escaping the threat of the Bolsheviks and, later, Chinese Communism. The family immigrated to San Francisco in 1949, and Val grew up in the city with his brothers Andrei and George, an active member of the Russian community.
Val met Mary Ann when he became a Vista volunteer in 1970, in Sumner, Wash. He developed an interest in planning while working with self-help housing. After earning a master’s degree from the University of Washington, he was a planner in Stockton and Antioch before coming to Clayton as city administrator/planning director and then city manager from 1984 to 1991.
His vision and creative vibrancy lead to dramatic changes in Clayton, expanding our little town into much of what it is today while retaining our small-town, historic character.
Among his many accomplishments, Val negotiated the addition of the Clayton Station shopping center and the Oakhurst projects, including creation of Clayton Community Park and the Oakhurst golf course. He secured donation of sites for Diablo View Middle School, the Clayton Library and Fire Station 11, while ensuring mitigation of traffic created by the development.
“They certainly broke the mold with Val,” said Peter Hellmann, president of Presley of Northern California during Oakhurst’s development. “He has been in my thoughts often over the years, especially when I run into ignorant bureaucrats and am reminded of how great it was to work with Val because he could simply get things done – big things. Val was among the important architects of today’s Clayton.”
Val orchestrated community meetings to rewrite the city’s General Plan and led the annexation of Dana Hills, Dana Ridge, Clayton Wood and Regency Meadows to our town. He helped us create a Redevelopment District in 1987, funding sewers, storm drains and street lighting for most of Clayton and partially funding the construction of Oakhurst Drive, extension of Clayton Road behind Easley and widening Clayton Road to four lanes from downtown to Ygnacio. In 1990, he helped draft our Town Center Specific Plan.
After leaving Clayton, Val worked for Contra Costa, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara counties. He had a boisterous personality and was a caring and thoughtful person. He loved education, the beauty of nature, music and family. He was sensitive at times and fierce at others. If you spent enough time with him, you experienced his thunderous laugh and his infectious smile.
He was a mentor and a visionary while in Clayton and was respected throughout the Bay Area. I will always treasure his friendship. His laughter and smile will live on in our hearts.