If the measure of a man’s life is based on the amount of joy he brought to others, it would be hard not to consider Scott Patrick’s the standard against which all others are judged.

Patrick, who died Nov. 1 at age 51 after a long bout with brain cancer, is remembered by friends and family as someone who loved life, his family, his work and his many passions.

A Bellevue resident and longtime employee with the Seattle Sonics and Seattle Seahawks, Patrick was the rare breed who never faked a smile, never put anything before his family and never stopped pursuing his goals during his fight with cancer.

“It always felt easy to be with him,” said Peter Kline, Patrick’s long-time friend.

At 1:43 p.m. on Nov. 4, three days after he passed away, an online guestbook in Patrick’s honor already had 1,051 messages on it. Some mentioned fond times with spent with Scott or memories of the way Scott had helped someone, or even just brightened their day. All gave their deepest sympathies to Patrick’s wife, Ronda, and his children, son, Brooks, 18; daughter, Bailee, 16 and his beloved yellow lab, Pirate.

“If you were around Scott, everyone was going to be in a good mood,” said Mike Gastineau, the 950 KJR AM sports radio host, and a former coworker of Patrick’s. “Whenever I saw him, honest to god, he always had a smile on his face. He was just an upbeat force.”

Patrick worked for the Sonics in the team’s sponsorship department for 11 seasons, including the team’s run to the NBA Championship series in 1995. Patrick eventually served five seasons as the Sonics Vice President of Corporate Sponsorships and Broadcasting. He was a natural at his job, Kline said, because of his ability to work with all the different types of people who work in professional sports.

“He was just a wonderful, wonderful man,” Kline said. “Everyone just loved getting along with Scott. He was able to work with all of the different personalities.

“And he just really loved both the Sonics and the Seahawks. It wasn’t just a job to him. He had a passion for the team, the sports and the people he worked with.”

Patrick joined the Seahawks in 1996, where he took over as the Vice President of Partnership Development.

“He brought a wealth of experience and knowledge about the industry and an approach that put our corporate partners first,” said Ron Jenkins, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships with the Seahawks. “There wasn’t and there will never be a better representative of our organization than Scott.”

Patrick was a tireless worker who attacked each project with a similar mentality, his friends say.

“He had this attitude of going after stuff with a ‘What’d you think?’-kind of mentality,” Kline said. “He was a salesman. But you never felt like you were being sold anything.”

Gastineau agreed with Kline’s “What’d you think?,” sentiment.

“That’s a great line, and that was Scott,” he said. “In the end of the day, Scott was somebody who cared.”

Outside of work, friends paint a picture of a man who always put his family first, regardless of his involvement in various organizations and charities, including the Chris Elliot Fund, which raises money for brain cancer research, as well as the time Patrick spent with his church, Newport Covenant Church in Bellevue.

“Anything that Scott did, he took ownership in,” Jenkins said. ‘Whether that was his family or the community work he did, he was passionate about what he did, no matter what it was.”

That passion didn’t fade after Patrick was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005, shortly after the Seahawks lost Super Bowl XL to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, friends say, it only gave him more drive.

“I think that’s how Scott extended his life,” Gastineau said. “In his mind, he just had the flu. That was just a part of how he did things.”

That was how Patrick became involved with the Chris Elliot Fund, where he served as vice president of the Sammamish-based fund.

“He came to me as a patient, first,” said Dellann Elliott, executive director and president of CEF, which raises money and awareness for brain cancer research and also helps patients and their families with treatment and education.

“The gift that Scott gave was his gift of introduction, knowing that it would provide awareness for the Chris Elliott Fund going forward,” Elliott said. “That was a huge gift that will keep on giving.”

Thanks to Patrick’s networking and contacts, CEF forged partnerships with the Seahawks, the Snoqualmie Tribe, 770 KTTH The Truth, 710 KIRO Newstalk and Pinnacle and American Management Services.

“What he did was phenomenal,” Elliott said.

When Kline qualified for the Boston Marathon last June, Patrick eagerly approached him about turning it into a fundraiser for the Fund.

“We’re in this meeting, right before his second surgery, and he asked me if I’d like to do it,” Kline said. “Then he said he’d take care of all the details. Here he was, right before brain surgery, and he was coordinating this whole thing.

“He was a fighter. He really fought this disease with his heart and soul.”

Kline said the last voicemail Patrick sent him, a voicemail he’s saved, is a testament to his personality and legacy.

“He left me a message about the Chris Elliot Fund,” Kline said. “And on it he just said ‘Don’t you worry about it Peter. I’ll handle it.’

“We’ll just try to carry on for him.”

A memorial service for Patrick will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. Remembrances may be made to the Chris Elliot Fund for Brain Cancer Research or to the Newport Covenant Church Youth Program.

Joel Willits can be reached at 425-453-5045 or at jwillits@reporternewspapers.com.

Memorial Service for Scott Patrick, Saturday at 7 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, 1717 Bellevue Way N.E., Bellevue, WA 98004

Remembrances can be made to:

The Chris Elliot Fund for Brain Cancer Research

704 228th Ave. N.E., #254

Sammamish, WA 98074

Newport Covenant Church Youth Program

12800 S.E. Coal Creek Parkway

Bellevue, WA 98006