Longtime Pacific Palisades resident Raymond George ‘Skip’ Gillette III passed away at his home last month of an apparent heart attack. He was 46. Born on August 1, 1958, Gillette grew up in Bel-Air and attended Bellagio Road Elementary School, Emerson Junior High and Harvard School. He graduated from USC, where he was an active member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. After college, he moved to Brentwood, then Santa Monica, eventually settling in the Palisades on Las Casas. Gillette was owner of RGG III Development Corporation, a residential general contracting company located in the Palisades. He specialized in custom homes and remodels on the Westside, a career he learned from his father, Ray Gillette, a retired building contractor. An avid fly fisherman and golfer, Gillette belonged to the Bel-Air Country Club and had a particular interest in junior golf, ever since winning the club’s junior championship in 1976. His love of fishing began as a child, fishing for trout in the High Sierras and Big Bear with his family. Later he enjoyed ocean fishing for marlin and swordfish in the waters off the Baja Peninsula. In the past 15 years, his passion turned to fly fishing in Sun Valley, Idaho, during summer family vacations. Warm and affable, Gillette loved World War II movies, Westerns and yellow Labradors, which he always named ‘Duke.’ He will most be remembered for his dry wit and humor, his fierce loyalty to his friends and his kind, generous spirit. Most of his closest friendships had endured since childhood. He leaves behind his parents Ray and Jeanne Gillette of Bel-Air; his brother Jim Gillette and his sister Nancy Gillette, both Palisades residents; six nephews and one niece. A family service was held in his memory.
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