Former Coral Tree Café Manager Mark Fontana, left, literally passes the spatula to his successor, Manager Stan Nicolaides, in a good-natured moment on Dec. 2 when Fontana was saluted for 24 years of UCSB service and for battling liver cancer to a standstill. Returning to campus a year after hepatitis and the tumors demanded his full attention, he passed out CDs of his music (see April 15, 2002 article in 93106) and emotionally thanked fellow employees who together contributed a year of catastrophic leave time to him. He and his wife, Colleen, plan to retire to the Sierra Nevada foothills next March.

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