Flags to be flown at half-staff Tuesday for H.R. Autz, who died Friday at 71

City Treasurer Hugh Rex Autz, known to all as H.R., died Friday morning at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center of an apparent stroke, family members said Monday. He was 71.

Benicia City Council appointed Autz as the city treasurer Oct. 15, 2012, succeeding the late Robert Langston in the post that Langston won against Autz in the Nov. 8, 2011 election.

“I am sad to learn of H.R. Autz’s death today,” Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said Monday.

“My heart goes out to his family, and I want them to know on behalf of the City Council how much he will be missed.”

She continued, “His charm was infectious and his gentle manner helped deliver a message that was not always popular: The city cannot continue providing the level of services with existing revenues.”

She called Autz “a great student of city finances,” and said he asked good questions and not only understood detailed reports quickly, but also was able to provide an independent analysis of them.

“On a very personal note, I particularly enjoyed talking about sailing and his experiences,” Patterson said. “His last voyage to a new harbor carries our thoughts and good memories.”

Assistant City Manager Anne Cardwell said the city’s flags will be flown at half staff Tuesday in Autz’s honor.

“I know I can speak for Brenda (Olwin, interim finance director) that she thought of him as a great addition to the Finance Committee,” Cardwell said, praising Autz’s comments at committee meetings as “insightful” and pertinent.

Later Monday, Olwin issued her own statement. “As the interim finance director, it was a pleasure to have Mr. Autz on the Finance Committee and as the city treasurer,” she said by email. “In addition to his kindness and professionalism, Mr. Autz contributed supportive and valuable insight to the committee discussions. I am sure I am not alone in expressing how much his presence will be missed.”

Autz is the third city treasurer in recent history to die in office. In addition to Langston, who died during his first term on Aug. 25, 2012, Margaret “Teddie” Bidou died Sept. 17, 2010.

Cardwell said the matter of Autz’s successor may be presented to the Council on May 27.

Finance Committee Chairperson Michael Clarke described Autz as “a dedicated and valuable member of the Finance Committee.

“He always paid attention to detail, but could also step back and offer a well-informed opinion on the big issues confronting the city,” Clarke said.

“His contributions and insights on all matters related to the city’s finances will be greatly missed.”

“I am so sorry to hear about the death of Mr. Autz,” City Councilmember Christina Strawbridge said.

“He was certainly a gentleman and a Benicia advocate. He had a wide range of ideas that included grape growing on the hills of Southampton to his work bringing several yacht clubs together as the commodore of the Benicia Yacht Club.

“Serving with H.R. on the Finance Committee, I could always count on him to take something complicated and make it understandable,” Strawbridge said. “At our last month’s meeting he asked about the relevance of the position of city treasurer and if it could be broadened.

“Even though his health was failing, he continued to fight for a voice in making Benicia an even better place to live and work. We will miss him.”

Ken Paulk, Autz’s rival in the campaign to be Langston’s successor, said Monday he has had his own recent chats with his doctor about health matters. Paulk initially started working out and training to run the Napa-Sonoma marathon in July in the name of Langston, a close friend.

Now, he said, he’ll run the race in Autz’s name as well.

Paulk became familiar with the Autz family when he, too, lived in Southern California. “I met his grandkids. They used to be models for Macy’s. They’re a great family,” he said.

“My heart hurts for H.R.’s family. They’re nice people,” Paulk said. “He was a good man. We like to make our marks and work hard. All you can do is the best you can and leave your legacy.”

Autz had experienced health problems that began with a back injury he suffered when he was 55, his wife, Christina, said Monday. But despited his compromised health that forced him to retire from business, Autz remained active in community causes, she said.

For many years, he was the editor of The Wind Word, Benicia Yacht Club’s newsletter, and had the same position for several similar publications, his wife said.

But Autz was active in a variety of community issues.

For instance, in 2009, with the help of Benicia’s fire department and garbage and recycling contractor, Allied Waste, Autz helped launch a local recycling program so those living with diabetes didn’t have to drive to the Devlin Transfer Station in American Canyon or other long distances to dispose of their insulin needles.

“It was so horrendous,” Christina Autz said of the effort it took to get rid of needles properly, especially for those who didn’t drive. “We tried to set up a relay.”

Autz had worried that some patients would try to throw their needles away in the trash, which could have harmed waste company employees.

Working with Benicia Fire Department as well as Allied Waste, Autz encouraged the use of red plastic boxes, called “sharps” containers, that could be accepted at Fire Station 11.

No longer did patients have to drive to American Canyon, Rio Vista, Richmond or Antioch to drop off their needles, nor did they have to spend $27 to mail them in a box.

Autz’s participation in the effort didn’t surprise his wife.

“I’d get home from school, and he’d have a new cause,” she said. She’s an elementary school teacher in Vallejo. “Once he started, there was no talking him out of it. He managed to make a difference.”

Autz felt the same way about being city treasurer. “He loved Benicia,” Christina Autz said. “He wanted terribly to be involved.” He sought the treasurer’s position specifically. “He knew his finances, and it was important to him.”

She said he viewed the job as being a liaison, “so people would understand how hard-working the government and staff are, and that they’re working for the good of Benicia, even if you disagree with them.”

She said her husband sought transparency, not only for the job of city treasurer, but in city government operations in general.

He wanted the public to know that if they disagreed with city employees, “let them know. Anyone’s opinion is as valid as another’s,” Christina Autz said.

When Autz ran against Langston, the two made about as many appearances before the City Council in an attempt to preserve the city job as they did in public forums addressing voters.

In an August 2011 meeting before that year’s election, the Council took the first steps toward eliminating the treasurer’s compensation and restricting the post’s duties. Langston called the move “changing the rules in the middle of the game.”

Autz took the Council to task, too, saying the matter should have been settled before candidates pulled nomination papers. “The race has started. The papers are in. It’s too late to redefine the job.”

While the Council finally agreed to a small stipend and expenses for the treasurer position, and such tasks as attending Finance Committee meetings, Autz clearly wasn’t satisfied. He recently reiterated his frustrations April 25 during a Finance Committee meeting.

“I can’t figure what the treasurer is to do,” he said. He said he didn’t get the information Finance Committee members receive, even though the job description requires that the treasurer attend the meetings. Autz then suggested that the treasurer become a voting member.

That topic has been placed on the agenda of the committee’s meeting at 8 a.m. Friday at City Hall.

Christina Autz met her future husband when the two were attending the University of Missouri, where he studied psychology and she majored in English. She said they both were in an anthropology class she aced; her future husband received a much lower grade, and he teased her that since she had worked for the professor, she had had an advantage.

They were married nearly 50 years.

The couple raised two sons, Bryan and Richard, and lived in Pittsburgh, Pa., Orlando, Fla. and finally Newhall, Calif., before settling in Benicia.

During his career, H.R. Autz had 18 years of retail experience, handling salaries, purchases, construction, remodeling and management.

After college he began working at Gimbel’s in Pittsburgh, which at the time was a department store that rivaled Macy’s. Autz then moved his family to Florida, where he built, remodeled and managed stores for the clothing retailer Robinson’s.

Once in California, he did the same for the Broadway department store.

In 1987, Autz decided to change careers. Instead of buying and supervising display advertisements for retail companies, he entered the newspaper advertising world, working for the Contra Costa Times.

But Autz didn’t want to live in Contra Costa County. “We went straight to Benicia, and never regretted a minute,” Christina Autz said.

Benicia Yacht Club also became a big part of the Autz family’s life, she said. The couple discovered the club while walking, admired the building’s beauty and inquired about it. Once they realized it was a yacht club, the two decided it might be the social setting at which they could feel at home.

Soon they were members, though they never bought a boat.

“It was a topic of discussion,” Christina Autz recalled, but as Autz’s health declined, the thought was set aside.

Instead, he focused on the club’s newsletter and other activities.

“He dreamed of getting The Wind Word out,” she said. “He was its editor 10 or 12 years — forever. With his newspaper background, he did newsletters. He loved doing it.”

When he suffered health setbacks, Karen Garrett, then the yacht club’s manager, gave the couple a leave of absence.

“It was wonderful,” Christina Autz said of the couple’s ties to the organization.

She said H.R.’s love for Benicia is a huge part of his legacy.

“I hope people remember him as a good man.”