Bart Alan Danielson

Bart Alan Danielson went to attend the Great Gig in the Sky on October 2nd, 2026 after an intense 3-month fight with Glioblastoma. One of Bart’s favorite words to use was ‘legendary,’ and his life was nothing short of it.

Bart was born in Montrose, Colorado on July 10, 1957 and lived there for approximately two weeks before embarking on his first of many moves throughout his lifetime. Growing up, he jumped back and forth between California, Arizona, and Oregon. If you asked Bart where he was from, he might have said one or all of these places because he planted roots everywhere he went. He would also tell you all about his favorite houses he lived in (especially “The Ranch” and 2nd Ave) and how legendary they were. He’d then follow up and tell you exactly which car he was driving at that time, and how legendary it was!

Bart attended Portland State University and the University of Oregon before moving to Mississippi, where he reconnected with his middle school friend, Laurie. She soon became his wife of 33 years and the great love of his life. Bart always said that Laurie was his “otter” because otters mate for life. And that was Bart and Laurie-- through every adventure, every move, every business venture, every disaster, and every possible & impossible chapter, they were a team.

In Mississippi, Bart continued to build his legendary life. He and Laurie had 3 children-- Dori, Blaine & Dylan and a standard white poodle, Billy. Bart always talked about those days with fondness, often reminiscing about how he had to wear his tuxedo so often that he wore a hole in it. He loved to have a drink down at Mallini’s and enjoyed taking his family out on their Ski Nautique.

While living in Mississippi, Bart became the captain of a 2001 gold Suburban and navigated his family on many 3000+ mile road trips across the United States. As a family, they ventured to 20+ states, saw countless national parks, encountered 2 tornadoes in Texas, and rarely stopped for bathroom breaks. But one place they always stopped at was “The Thing”, off exit 322 in Dragoon, Arizona. The journey was usually routed towards Lake Oswego, Oregon-- until eventually they made the trip permanent, moving to Oregon in 2004.

Oregon became home, but Bart’s life was never about doing just one thing. He was a jack of all trades, and somehow a master of all. The running joke in the Danielson family is that no one could really describe exactly what Bart did for a living, but he made sure we all knew how hard he worked! His career spanned many different roles throughout his life: he was a Wonderbread truck driver, a real estate broker, a business owner, a basketball & soccer coach, a granite importer, a ball boy for the Phoenix Suns, a contractor, a carpenter, a rock album photographer, a historic home restoration expert, and manager of his father’s neurosurgery clinic. He knew everyone in every field, and if you mentioned anyone’s name he’d probably say “yeah, that’s my buddy!”

Bart’s many careers only tell a small part of his story. Bart somehow managed to fit several lifetimes into his short 69 years on this Earth. One of his favorite pastimes was to tell you about

these lives after a couple glasses of red wine in a little blue cup. If you could follow along, you’d learn that he was a pioneer of skateboarding culture in Santa Cruz in the early 1970s. Or that he camped out on the Great Wall of China during Mao’s Little Red Book era. Or that he was shot at before boarding a plane during the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1979. (Thankfully for his kids, they missed). He knew Mandarin and Spanish, and allegedly a little bit of Swahili and Norwegian-- combined with his stories, he never beat the CIA allegations.

We can’t talk about Bart without speaking to the most pivotal event of his life: Hurricane Katrina. He rode out the legendary storm at his parent’s home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast-- directly in the eye. He held the front door closed for 8 hours as the waters of the Gulf kept knocking increasingly harder. He is the only reason that house survived. After the storm, Bart was one of the first to survey the damages, driving through the devastation to a soundtrack of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Katrina cost Bart his home that he lovingly built with Laurie, as well as his business, his wife’s antique store, and his father’s neurosurgery clinic. Together with Laurie, they spent weeks picking through the rubble, and years putting their lives back together again. It was one of the hardest chapters of their lives, but they did what they always did: they figured it out together.

Bart was preceded in death by his parents Harry and Beverly, his brothers Rick and Kris, and his best friends of life John Colletti and Billy Rancher. He leaves behind his wife of 33 years, Laurie, as well as his children Dori (MacAdam), Blaine (Teddy) and Dylan. He also leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews, and dozens of friends & buddies.

We will all miss Bart immensely and will feel the legendary hole he has left in our lives. Whether you knew him as Bart, Bartmann, Boss, Paco de Manzanillo, Clark, or Lupe, he left an impact on everyone he interacted with. But we will also remember the endless nights listening to classic rock with a nice cabernet, the thousand mile road trips, and all of the “right on croutons” he gave after each and every accomplishment.

In lieu of flowers, please put on some Pink Floyd, crack open a Budweiser or Bud Zero (don’t forget to wrap it in a paper towel with blue masking tape) and tell some stories. Because if there’s one thing Bart would want, it’s for the legendary stories to keep on clickin’ like a chicken.

To keep the stories going, the Danielson family invites you to share your favorite stories about Bart in the guestbook.