It is with great sadness that the family of Alistair William Baillie announces his death on March 22, 2024, at the age of seventy-seven.  Alistair battled cancer and the side-effects of the treatments for 28 years.   He passed peacefully on his own terms with his beloved wife, Jennine, and daughter, Shona, at his side.

Alistair was the second of three boys born to Muriel and Andrew Baillie.   His father served in the Royal Artillery during WWII, and defended London in the Blitz.  Andrew was captured in Timor and spent three and a half years as a Japanese prisoner of war working on the Burma railway line.  Muriel was a Scottish champion swimmer and just missed qualifying for the Berlin Olympics in 1936.  Alistair inherited four key traits from his parents that exemplified his life. He was a fierce competitor in any endeavor he undertook.  He had a lifelong love affair with sports, especially golf.  He also played squash, rugby, and racquetball. His Scottish heritage and traditions would remain of significant importance to him throughout his life.  To see him resplendent in full Scottish attire was a remarkable sight.  He lived near the sea in Laguna Beach, and often mentioned the joy he got driving Shona to her morning swimming training.

Alistair had a very sound and disciplined education.  He was grounded in the basics and passed a difficult entrance exam to attend Hutchesons Boys Grammar School, founded in 1641.  Due to his competitive nature, he got good marks and studied hard.  He was Captain of Athletics and a key rugby player in the school's top team (undefeated in his final year).  A few broken bones resulted from his overenthusiastic tackles.  He loved his time there and maintained life-long friendships.  He graduated with excellent marks, which got him accepted to Strathclyde University, one of the best engineering schools in the world.  However, life changed dramatically for Alistair and the Baillie family after his father died in 1960, which resulted in a move to Toronto, Canada, in 1965.  Alistair attended the University of Waterloo, where he got his engineering degree.  He always made it a point to drive home on weekends - a two-hundred-kilometer round-trip for his mother's excellent Scottish cooking.  He drove his first car, a green 1962 TR3 convertible, even in winter, with no heating. While attending Waterloo, he lived on a farm, aptly named Animal Farm, with seven classmates while fully immersing themselves in the 60's university lifestyle.

His first job upon graduating was with the Ministry of Transport, but the new IBI Group quickly hired him for his transportation expertise.  At that time, IBI only had twenty-seven employees.  In 1982, he was asked to move to California to open two offices in Newport Beach and San Francisco.  It was during this time that he met his beloved wife, Jennine, and they married in 1987. In 1993, Alistair became the 11th Partner and Operating Director with IBI Group.  Alistair helped grow the company to more than sixty offices, which employed more than 3,000 professionals in twelve countries worldwide.  One of his many achievements, aside from his part in the dynamic growth of IBI Group, was mentoring colleagues who have gone on to successfully open their own companies.

While he had special bonds with Toronto and Laguna Beach, Alistair's spiritual home was Scotland.  He made the journey to his homeland many times with friends and family and invested in a flat adjacent to the Royal Dornoch Golf Club and Hotel, "a wee bit of my homeland".  Despite suffering from the side-effects of radiation, he claimed that the pure levels of oxygen in the Scottish Highlands would bring about well-being for him while walking and playing the dunes of his favorite golf course, Royal Dornoch. He was a member of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club for 20+ years and cherished the few times he got to the Club.

Alistair was diagnosed in January 1995 with base of the tongue squamous cell carcinoma.  He signed on for a study at MD Anderson and underwent seven weeks of radiation, and a year of rehabilitation. Despite continuous setbacks, he refused to be defined by his health, worked and participated as much as he could daily.  He traveled extensively, always staying at the best hotels, and covered Europe from top to bottom on numerous trips with his friends and family.  He loved traveling; even while he was eating through a g-tube with people staring at him, he lived his life to the fullest. Always with a courageous approach that was inspiring and sometimes, unbelievably, funny. His inability to eat normally did not stop him from going to the most expensive restaurants and ordering from the menu.  When his meal arrived, he would hand the waiter his plate and ask to have everything blended, so that he could eat through his g-tube.  Of course, this did not sit well with a few chefs, but Alistair did not care.

After 26 years in remission, and taking three Covid vaccines in 2020, his cancer came back in December 2022.  Once again, Alistair was determined to beat it and had the tumor surgically removed.  In 2021, he was also diagnosed with heart issues and underwent drug trials and an aortic heart valve replacement in May 2023 to improve his declining health.  In August 2023, the "turbo" cancer returned with a vengeance.  Again, he elected to have palliative radiation and immunotherapy treatments, but his body became too weak to withstand the treatments.

Over the years, Alistair was a golf member at Dove Canyon Country Club, Newport Beach Country Club and Big Canyon Country Club.  He made friends easily, was a man's man, very generous and never walked by a homeless person without pulling a buck or two out of his pocket.  His magnetic personality, tall, lanky stature and dapper style always brought beautiful energy to any setting.

Alistair is survived by his wife, Jennine.  Daughter:  Shona Pressley.  Brother: Ian Baillie.  Sister: Pauline Chamberlain.  Son-In-Law: Scott Pressley.  Sister-In-Laws: Ramona Baillie and Lisa Berg.  Nieces: Melissa Berg, JoAnne Karin, Alex Baillie.  Brother-In-Laws:  Bruce Berg, Richard Chamberlain

The great poet Dylan Thomas summed up Alistair's battle with cancer magnificently.  "Do not go gentle into that good night.  Rage, rage against the dying of the light."  Alistair, despite a myriad of significant setbacks, refused to give up.  He was indeed one for the ages and will be missed by many whose spirits were always lifted by his presence.

Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, May 5, 2024, 2pm to 5pm.  Dana Point Yacht Club, 24399 Dana Drive, Dana Point, CA 92629.