Scott Jablon worked as a lawyer, so he often saw people at their worst.
Yet he maintained a faith in humanity that friends and family said was inspirational.
“He was always very accepting of people,” said Mike Passeck, a Tacoma certified public accountant who met Jablon 16 years ago. “He was one of the best listeners I’d ever been around.”
Jablon died Wednesday when his car plunged 32 feet off an overpass in downtown Tacoma and landed on Interstate 705. He was 58.
The Federal Way man was on his way to lunch with Passeck at a restaurant on Tacoma’s waterfront when he lost control of his 2007 Ford Taurus on state Route 509 where it passes over I-705.
Washington State Patrol troopers speculate Jablon might have experienced a medical emergency just before the crash. His family has requested an autopsy to confirm what happened. He had suffered health problems in the recent past, said his youngest sister, Pamela Ballard of University Place.
The oldest of seven children, Jablon was a Lakes High School graduate who attended the University of Southern California before obtaining a law degree from Oral Roberts University.
The great passions of his life, aside from his family, were baseball and politics, Ballard said.
He and his wife Lesa’s only child, Joshua, liked to attend Seattle Mariners games together, and father and son shared an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the team, Ballard said.
“I think Scott had taught Josh everything about baseball,” she said.
Joshua Jablon, who graduated from high school in June, wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday that his father taught him much more than that, instructing him to be “loyal, loving and thoughtful to everyone.”
The elder Jablon also enjoyed following politics and wrote the occasional letter to the editor to extol his favorite candidates or berate those he found lacking.
His latest appeared in The News Tribune in July when he endorsed Republican Federal Way City Councilwoman Linda Kochmar in the primary race for 30th District state representative. Kochmar advanced to the general election.
Passeck said he’d miss his friend’s wry sense of humor, which he put on display at their weekly lunches.
“We always had interesting conversations, and there often was a good belly laugh there,” he said.
Ballard said Jablon’s family is grateful to the people who stopped to try to help after the wreck.
“He will be greatly missed,” she said.
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