He was a larger-than-life persona crammed into a diminutive physical frame. Many know him as the man who changed the landscape of the world’s retail markets. Yet, the priceless Sol Price was more than the sum of his business accomplishments. He changed lives, government policies and, probably to his own surprise, he also indelibly affected the energy policy world in San Diego. On the day of his passing, it seems appropriate to share with the world a little known story of how Sol Price altered my life, the practices of SDG&E and impacted the county’s energy policy for decades.

I first met Sol Price in 1980. His Price Club warehouse chain had recently taken off and he found himself swimming in excess cash that he wanted to give to charities. He took philanthropic giving very seriously, even in the early stages of his success. One of his efforts was the creation of an academic center at the University of San Diego Law School dedicated to the monitoring of California regulatory agencies. Called the “Center for Public Interest Law” (CPIL) it really served more as a watchdog of government regulation. It drew me to attend USD law school like Hollywood draws aspiring starlets. I may not have dreamt of starring in a movie, but I knew that I wanted to play leading man in efforts to reign in corporate abuses. And utilities, being creations of regulatory policies, my aspirations fit squarely in the sights of Price’s charter for CPIL.

CPIL’s birth coincided with my attendance at USD. In 1980, I was a first-year student during CPIL’s maiden voyage. In my second year, I came upon the idea of creating a consumer group to serve as a watchdog of the local utility – San Diego Gas & Electric. Also known, at that time, as San Diego Greed & Extortion, SDG&E was not well regarded by its approxmately one million customers. Buffeted by big price increases during the 1970s and multiple operational scandals to boot, SDG&E’s customers would have gladly jumped ship if they had any option. But its state-guarded monopoly precluded most options, so customers stewed in their anger.

Inadvertently, I tapped into this anger when I proposed the creation of this consumer group. I also inadvertently tapped into the anger of SDG&E, which had two of its officers serving on the USD Board of Directors at the time. They expressed their displeasure about my project to the University dean who expressed his discomfort with their discomfort to the director of the Center who shared his nervousness about the rumbling political fall-out of my project with me. But rather than succumb to the pressure, the Center director – and my mentor – decided to fight back. He arranged a visit with the Center’s benefactor to discuss strategy.

That’s when I first met Sol Price. It was at a lunch at an old-guard Italian restaurant that retained a 1960’s-style haute cuisine approach to 1980’s dining. We met along with my mentor, Bob Fellmeth, and talked about the academic uproar that my student project spawned. This first meeting was memorable in many ways. Sol peppered me with questions and with each answer followed up with multiple rapid-fire volleys. I thought I was meeting with a businessman yet here I was fending off dagger-sharp questions from this Professor Kingsfield clone. Later, Bob told me that Sol was trained to be an attorney but didn’t have the patience to practice. My guess was that he scared judges and other lawyers.

Yet, the more memorable part of our meeting was that it was my first close and personal interaction with a true capitalist. After the slew of questions, he probably could tell that I was mentally exhausted. He quickly devised an effective strategy to deal with the dean’s pressure and then it was his time to talk. Expound, actually.

It turns out, Sol Price was a true capitalist. He believed in competitive markets enabled by customers who had access to good information and regulators who served as effective market cops. By providing high quality, un-manipulated information to make up for the poor quality of information peddled by self-interested sales-driven marketers, Sol believed that we gave strength and esteem to a people who must deal with government, businesses and their own communities.

He explained at that lunch that capitalism had a lot of strengths – it promotes motivation, creativity, daring and efficiency. He also saw that unfettered and/or corporate capitalism could undermine essential institutions, such as justice, equality, community and education.

He talked about the need to impose a higher ethical and legal standard upon companies, government and institutions often blinded by the singular pursuit of capital. He had little faith in any institution, but was convinced that they could perform if subjected to effective checks.

He viewed the role of the Consumer Advocate as a necessary vigilante prepared to fight for real capitalism (not the corporate-controlled kind) while at the same time giving weight to the need for justice, equality, and community. His vision of the Consumer Advocate was more than just someone who stopped business rip-offs. In his eyes, they had the potential of being an institution that preserves balance in the markets, kept government from disrupting competitive markets and that made the individual count in society.

From our conversation, I took away a clear role for providing comparative information to make up for the poor quality of information peddled by self-interested sales-driven marketers. I saw the value of giving strength and esteem to a customer who must deal with these businesses. By aggregating individuals and representing them as a group, I could bring the strengths of community to a disconnected society.

To be clear, Sol Price was both a highly principled man but also very much of a realist. He made clear that the toil of a Consumer Advocate is a timeless one; there is no war with victors or losers. It would be on-going conflict between the best and the worst of capitalism’s attributes. The victories for the Advocate come where they succeed in making a business understand that there is more to a bottom line than a bottom line, that its best customers will be informed and capable and where its profitability and longevity are integrally tied with its acceptance into the community and offering real value for the customers it serves.

After that lunch in 1981, I didn’t see Sol again for a few years – which was good because I was still intellectually overload from that one lunch for many years hence. Subsequently, Bob Fellmeth and CPIL stood up to the University dean, with Sol’s backing. UCAN was created and prospered. Then, on an almost annual basis, I was summoned by Sol to meet and talk. Rarely was there ever an agenda. I suppose part of his interest was fueled by curiosity. Part of it by a need to keep me on target, serving the function of a Consumer Advocate as he defined it. Part of it by pure entertainment value – I took it as a challenge to make him laugh. I rarely succeeded, but when I did, I elicited his subtle curmudgeon-like approval. And I think he was comforted by the fact that I was that I was one of the few local activists/charities that rarely asked him for financial help.

Few people in San Diego ever knew how Sol Price helped me define the role and execute the role of a vigilante Capitalist Cop/Consumer Advocate. And he helped steady my focus over the 25 years that I’ve had the privilege to so serve. He certainly changed my life and is at least partially responsible for all of the good (and, perhaps damage) that UCAN has wrought under my tenure. This is but one small part of a complex legacy that will likely dwarf the accomplishments of any other single San Diegan in recent history.