August 12, 1959 – February 28, 2022 Christopher OB Wright died February 28, 2022, at the age of 62, in Mountain View. He was a native of Los Angeles who thrived as a student at Harvard School and as an attorney at Latham & Watkins before moving to Northern California, where he was active in community affairs, including service missions to Mexican orphanages. Gone too soon — he was a beloved son, father, and oldest brother.
Chris was born in 1959 in Los Angeles, the first child of Helen Catherine “Kay” and Omar Burton “Burt” Wright, Jr. The Wright family spent their early years in New York then returned to Los Angeles permanently in 1966, settling in Beachwood Canyon, where Chris grew up and regularly visited and where the family still resides.
Chris was a standout student. He went to Cheremoya Avenue Elementary School then Harvard School, where he was on the water polo team and a captain of the debate squad.
Chris had a lifelong interest in politics and policy. During his senior year of high school, he interned for Rep. Henry A. Waxman in DC Chris was the charter student in the undergraduate Public Policy program at Stanford and then worked on both of Mayor Tom Bradley’s gubernatorial campaigns. These interests and his debating skill led Chris to attend UC Berkeley Law School, where he co-founded the Technology Law Journal.
Chris had a distinguished legal career specializing in antitrust law, starting in 1986 at Latham & Watkins in downtown LA, where he also practiced securities law. He returned to Northern California in 1991 where he was a Partner at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto and defended companies against the anticompetitive behavior of Microsoft. Chris later worked on entrepreneurial ventures in solar energy.
Chris was also good at having fun. He was rush chairman for the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He saw countless Grateful Dead shows. He took his family to South Bend to cheer as Stanford football beat Notre Dame. And he loved the outdoors. In his youth, he was always kicking out on his boogie board for one last afternoon wave at Zuma or Newport or some beach in between.
Chris’s survivors include his daughter Amy Wright, his three siblings Brian J. Wright, Catherine H. Wright (John), and George W. Wright, and his former wife and Stanford classmate Vanessa Alvarez Cooper Wright. A memorial service was held in Mountain View. Contact: [email protected]
Published by Los Angeles Times on Mar. 27, 2022.
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