Bienvenido "Tito Ben" Eusebio Obituary (1935 - 2022)

Bienvenido (Tito Ben) Eusebio passed away on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at the age of 86. His love of family gatherings, his dedication to serving the poor, and his passion for a sustainable environment will be his legacy. He is survived by, Ester Kalaw, his loving wife of 59 years; children, Emmanuel (Christine) Eusebio and Maria (Dale) Theis; grandchildren, Sarah, Joseph, and Peter Eusebio and Matthew, Michael, Benjamin, and Mia Elizabeth Theis; siblings, Nicanor Jr, Charles, Ralph, Jim and Sylvia (Guibao); and a large extended group of friends and family. Ben was born and raised in Cavite, Philippines, the son of Nicanor Eusebio and Aurora Cabezas. He graduated cum laude from De La Salle University in the Philippines and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with his graduate degree in Chemical Engineering. He began his career at Stauffer Chemical in San Francisco, California and Cincinnati, Ohio. He then worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Seattle, Washington for 26 years. He was active as a leader of the Filipino community at his church (St Madeline Sophie) and served as the Regional Director of the Cursillo Movement for the Pacific NW Region. Once retired, Ben committed his expertise to help his native country which was significantly behind the U.S. in their environmental protection efforts. He earned his PhD at age 77 when he accepted the invitation to become the founder and director of the newly developed Lasallian Institute For the Environment (L.I.F.E.) encompassing all 17 LaSallian campuses. He devoted the rest of his life to helping educate local leaders in the barangays (villages) in the Philippines about how to use their natural resources more sustainably. In addition to his educational efforts, he led a campaign to plant one million trees in the Philippines by 2020, spearheaded Project Carbon Neutral (a De La Salle Philippines initiative) and became passionate about efforts to develop an eco-farm and community outreach center to support the local communities near Libmanan, Philippines. His passion for the environment led to being awarded the LaSallian Achievement Award in 2008 and recognition by the Christian Brothers of LaSalle, who inducted him as an Affiliate of the Christian Brothers in February 2019. The family wishes to extend special thanks to Wowee, Jason, Jeffry, Joel, Paul (and their families) and the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Recitation of the Rosary will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 10:30am followed by a Funeral Mass at 11:00am both at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish 205 Second Ave N., Seattle, WA 98119. Family will be available at the church to receive attendees beginning at 9:00am. The live-stream link will be available on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish webpage. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to ELK Farm (in Libmanan, Philippines).