Dr. Geoffrey Dudley Phillips: December 7, 1948 – January 2025

Dr. Geoffrey Dudley Phillips, 77, of Montecito, California, died January of 2025 in Montecito. Geoffrey will always be remembered for his skills at stitching up a wound, carrying a tune and some of the BEST FÊTES Montecito knew in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s! 

Geoffrey was born December 7, 1948, in Trinidad and Tobago, which was a British Colony until 1962. At a time when the U.S. welcomed immigrants, Geoffrey’s parents, Pearl and Austin Phillips, immigrated to New York’s Harlem when he was three years old. Pearl was a RN who worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago for over 25 years. Austin attended Meharry Medical College for two years, worked as a chemist for Zenith, and later for the National Safety Council. They moved to the South Side of Chicago where Geoffrey spent his formative years with his brothers David, a free spirit, the conservative Dr. Richard Phillips, Dirk who is still a Hippie, and their dog Cindy.

Growing up, Geoffrey played the trumpet at Englewood HS, loved baseball and especially “Mr. Cub,” Ernie Banks. He rode an Ariel Square Four Chopper, was inspired by the Black Panthers’ People’s Free Medical Centers and, through creative use of multiple casts on his “broken” arm that never seemed to heal, avoided being drafted into America’s war against Vietnam.

One day, whilst working outside on a Spiegel shipping dock on a bitterly cold Chicago day, he noticed that the white employees were inside warm offices and only Black and people of color were outside on the docks. After a lifetime experiencing Chicago’s brutal racism and segregation, Geoffrey decided, even with dyslexia, he wanted more from life and chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor.

Geoffrey enrolled in the University of Minnesota Medical School. Whilst attending university, Geof had a relationship with Jackie Thomson, who loved him dearly. After completing medical school, Geoffrey’s wanderlusts took him to California where he discovered Santa Barbara. The moment he arrived, he knew instantly that he’d found home.

Some five years after his relationship with Jackie, she contacted him and let him know that he was the father a beautiful five-year old daughter named Katherine!

Until the time he learned about Katherine, Geof was a sworn bachelor, but he embraced fatherhood as well as he could and returned to Minneapolis to meet his daughter. He took her to meet his parents in Trinidad where they retired. They were excited to see their first grandchild, and to have Katherine finally meet, “de Trini Tribe Nah!”

 For 25 years Geoffrey was an ER surgeon at San Luis Obispo General Hospital, working 48-hour shifts and living life to its fullest.

Geoffrey also started the first ‘Urgent Care Center” (which he fondly called “Doc in a Box”) in the San Luis Obispo Area.

 Always dapper, Geof had a keen eye for real estate investing which made him a wealthy man.

An avid traveler, Geoffrey visited, the former Soviet Union, East Germany, Thailand, Tibet, London, Paris, Australia… A friend of his who lived in Papeete, Tahiti, recalled how he and his wife opened the blinds of their bedroom one morning and were shocked to see Geof walking by their window! His Montecito parties were legendary.

Sadly, in his late 50s, Geoffrey began to experience advanced dementia.

Though seemingly unable to communicate, those who loved him knew he was aware of our love for him.

Geoffrey is survived by his brothers, daughter Katherine, Katherine’s mother Jackie Thomson, his three grandchildren Phoenix, Prophet and Pharrell living in Minneapolis, his daughter Eloise and son Enoch Phillips in Montecito, his cousin – and Trinidad’s one time Ambassador to the U.N. – Dr. Marjorie Thorpe, his cousins Mabel and Maria Siles retired teachers living in N.Y., numerous cousins in Trinidad, his very close friends Bob and Christina Martin, Carol and Olaf Lang, Jewell Dennis and Diane Robin, who became his extended family, and all those who knew and loved him.

Most of us who knew and loved Geoffrey before his illness, including his family, were not informed by his guardian of his passing until after his funeral.

To provide closure, to celebrate the life of such an incredible man, to acknowledge those who knew Geoffrey when he was GEOF and kept him in their hearts all these years, there will be a CELEBRATION OF LIFE to be held at a later date in Santa Barbara. For updates, please write:

GeofWeLoveYou@protonmail.com 

Geof, You’ll ALWAYS be in our hearts. GUZO TORK!

To those who knew Geof “back in the day,” we would be most grateful if you would send a short note sharing a “Geoffrey” experience and how, in a positive way, he affected your life. Any photos you have would be most welcome. Please send to the above email address or write:

Geoffrey Phillips Celebration of Life
4110 SE Hawthorne Ave #313
Portland, Oregon 97214