Kathryn Tunstall

Kathryn Tunstall embarrassed cancer for eighteen years before her body finally gave up on a sunny day, June 8, 2015. Her immediate family held her hands as she took her last breath in the beautiful home she built and decorated (and redecorated, and redecorated) with her husband, Michael Purvis in Napa, California.

She was born to Iola Daisy “Doris” Anderson, an actress in Busby Berkeley’s films from the 30s, and Harrison Perry “Bo” Tunstall – a Texas barnstormer turned oilman in Southern California. After the death of her father, she worked hard to support her family, while managing to be a stellar student at La Quinta High, where she was Aztec of the Year and president of the Girls League. She took a BA in economics at UCSB, where she fell in love with that dramatic landscape. She often said that Santa Barbara was like a balm to her soul.

A believer in the potential for business to do good, Kathryn was a leader in the medical technology industry and a mentor to women at a time when women in high level leadership positions were hard to come by. Serving in executive management positions at several companies, Kathryn had a hand in bringing to market IV sets for medicine and nutrition, cardiovascular catheters for life-saving heart operations, technologies that make it easier to get critical medical advances to the public, a method for improving IVF success rates, and procedures and devices for things as routine as UTIs and implantable lenses, and as complicated as angioplasty.

She was a forward-looking and empathetic business leader who had the gift of being able to find solutions to problems she encountered in her own life through collaborative business development. After her first bout with breast cancer, she founded HopeLink to connect patients to clinical trials. Recognizing that early detection is the key to a long life with cancer, she chaired the board at Neomatrix, which developed a method for detecting the earliest signs of breast cancer. She was a director at Vivant, which developed microwave ablation technology for the minimally invasive treatment of tumors. She has been an active supporter of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center and other cancer-related philanthropic organizations.

But the pinnacle of her career was reached as Kathryn co-founded Conceptus, Inc., where she served as president//CEO and eventually chairman for over 20 years. Conceptus developed Essure, the first non-surgical alternative to tubal ligation. Kathryn rightly saw this simple, cost-effective, and painless outpatient procedure as a boon to women world-wide that allowed them to take control of their reproductive health quickly and safely.

Her compassion, generosity, and support extended well beyond her immediate family, and encompassed friends, extended family members, employees, friends of friends, and even strangers. She brought people in. She mentored many women through breast cancer diagnoses and treatments, and taught them through her own example how important it is to be involved in their own care.

For such a hard-working person, it surprised many to learn that she was an incredible homemaker. The consummate entertainer, she created moments and memories for so many people by welcoming them into her impeccably styled home and graced them with gorgeous table settings. She mastered the art of French cooking by working her way through Julia Child’s books in college, and meals prepared by her were a testament to her love of detail and of the ones she fed. Many were lucky to be included at that table. She loved the world and its cultures – especially France. She was a patron of the arts, a fashionista who designed sumptuous dresses, and a bargain hunter who could turn a Marshalls find into haut couture.

She leaves behind her husband of 23 years, Michael Purvis, her daughter Alex Zobel, her son Gregory Zobel, her step-daughters Michelle Purvis Puccioni and Julie Purvis, her brother Michael Tunstall, her sister Ella Tunstall, and hundreds of family members and friends who were fortunate to know her and sad to lose her.

There will be a rosary in the Chapel at Tulocay Cemetery at 6:30 in Napa on Thursday, June 11. The funeral mass will be at 11 am on Friday at St. Apollinaris Church in Napa, followed by a graveside service at Tulocay Cemetery. A reception to celebrate her life will follow at her home. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the breast cancer trust fund that has been set up in her name at the Bank of Napa.

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