Menlo Park man dies in apparent suicide
Donn Paul Reisen, 60, was president of Ridge Vineyards
The San Mateo County coroner has identified Donn Paul Reisen, 60, of Menlo Park as the man who died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a vehicle parked at Ford Field in Portola Valley on Monday, Jan. 26, at about 10:45 a.m.
Reisen was the president of Ridge Vineyards, based in Cupertino. A company spokeswoman did not comment on Reisen's death except to say that a statement would be forthcoming in a day or two.
Firefighters pronounced Reisen dead at the scene in the parking lot near the intersection of Alpine Road and Westridge Drive, said Lt. Ray Lunny of the Sheriff's Office.
While the coroner's formal examination as to the cause of Reisen's death is not yet complete, there were no indications that it was not a suicide, Coroner Robert Foucrault said.
A February 2008 biographical entry on the Food Network Web site describes Reisen as a third-generation Californian and Bay Area native whose fondest childhood memory was riding the train to San Francisco to meet his grandfather, Julius Salvotti, and visiting his great-grandfather's restaurant there.
Reisen got his start in winemaking in the early 1960s after inheriting the restaurant's winemaking equipment, the biography said. In college and graduate school, he studied psychology and family counseling. One of his favorite wines was Zinfandel, the bio said.
He joined Ridge Vineyards as a part-time employee in 1977 while finishing his thesis, and four years later assumed the marketing and sales responsibilities there, the biography said. He was named president in 2001.
In July 2007, Reisen and Paul Draper, Ridge winemaker and CEO, offered themselves as tour guides of the winery and headquarters on Monte Bellow Road in the hills above Cupertino, according to an Aug. 15, 2007, story in The Almanac. The price: two tours at $15,000 each.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office reportedly had information regarding suicidal threats by Reisen, Lt. Lunny said.