Chance Hochschild

It is with broken hearts that we announce the sudden passing of Chance Hochschild on July 31, 2019. He was the most loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend that has ever walked the Earth and will forever be in our hearts.

Chance was born February 20, 1988, in Newport Beach, CA. He graduated Camarillo High School in 2006 and then attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. In 2011, he graduated with a BS in Ag Business and minor in Wine and Viticulture.

Among Chance's many loves were his friends, the beach, surfing, abalone diving, snowboarding, and long drives. He was a master of the lost art of the phone call and would spend hours keeping you company until he knew you made it home safe. As a sports fan, Chance loved soccer and rugby and could often be found at a San Francisco Giants or Golden State Warriors game. A lover of politics, Chance could articulate the reasons needed to Make America Great Again and then do it again in Spanish, a language he achieved fluency in through frequent trips to Central and South America. He could make a mouthwatering pizza, never attended a barbeque that he didn't like, and could break your arm in an arm-wrestling competition all while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sporting a mustache groomed to turn as many heads as possible.

Chance had a love of life that was unsurpassed. He had a hunger for travel and his passion for people, adventure, and misadventure guaranteed new friends, injuries, and stories that made all the above worth it at the conclusion of every vacation. Chance had a personal magnetism and a need to share and hear stories, possibly being the only person to complain about a plane flight because too few people talked to him.

Chance was a force of nature. His first job in the tasting room at Opolo Vineyards cemented his career path and lifelong love of the Central Coast and the wine industry. Through determination and hard work, he worked his way up to his current job as the Bulk Wine Sales Manager at Miller Family Wines. His work ethic was to be admired.

Chance had no patience for small talk, the smug and sanctimonious, and the hand-wringing hippies who destroy this nation with all talk and no action. What he loved was decisive action and fighting for what he knew to be right. He was helpful in a way only Chance could be. It didn't matter if he was defending a drag queen's honor against a bigot in a fist fight or rescuing horses and livestock during the Santa Rosa fires. Chance measurably improved the world around him and had a true heart for those in need. Like a bull, he was fearless - a man who washed his whites with his darks and frankly didn't give a damn about the naysayers because his convictions were stronger than someone's opinion.

He was a loyal and caring friend, that would drop everything to come to your side to keep you company on a bad day or even drive you to the emergency room and wait with you for hours.

More than anything else Chance loved his family and the holidays he spent with them. It was not uncommon for him to scheme ways to spend extra time at his grandma's house during the Christmas holiday, and despite being well over 30 gave stiff competition at the annual family Easter egg hunt.

Chance will be remembered as a beloved son, "based" brother, and a fiercely loyal friend. He was a hero to many, a king of queens, an armchair politician, a surfing and viticulture extraordinaire, and the funniest person you would have ever met.

He is preceded in death by his grandparents Joe and Helen Hochschild, Nick Zaninovich and loving aunt Nicolette Zaninovich. He is survived by his parents Peter and Donna Hochschild, brother, Keenan Hochschild, grandmother, Anna Zaninovich, aunts and uncles, Steve Hochschild, Maryann and D Billings, Susan and Erich Fuchs, Jane and Emmett Jones, Kay Hochschild, and Lynn and Pat Hollinger. Cousins, Matt and Eva Billings, Lauren Billings, Brandee and Gary Kent and Valerie Dave De Carlo. Jack, Nick and Alex Billings. Johnny, Christian, Matthew, Marcella, and Anna Giumarra. Alison, David and Chase Kent. Savannah, Landon and Hayes De Carlo. Last, but certainly not least: a dog he loved and a cat he loved to torment.