"Max" Alan Christopher Kautz
Sept. 4, 1984-Aug. 31, 2025
Palo Alto, California

Just shy of his 41st birthday, Max Kautz passed away at home in Palo Alto. Max was born at The Birth Place in Menlo Park weighing 10 pounds 11 ounces, larger than life from day one. He went to Grace Lutheran Preschool, El Carmelo Elementary, JLS Middle and Gunn High Schools until he was a Junior after which he graduated from the Florida Air Academy. Following high school Max went to CSU Fullerton and worked in sales. Resuming his education and baseball career, Max went to Canada Junior College, playing for the Colts, and was then offered a baseball scholarship to Cumberland University in Tennessee where he earned a special education teaching degree and while a senior there was on the team that won the NAIA Baseball Championship. Max returned to the Bay Area after college and worked at Lenz Precision Technology in Mountain View and afterwards at Facebook in Menlo Park. Max then worked at art galleries in South Lake Tahoe, the Bay Area and Hawaii.

Max was very social. He loved people, art, the outdoors and traveling, but his real passion was baseball. In Palo Alto he played T-ball, Little League, Babe Ruth and American Legion. He also played baseball for Gunn High School, Florida Air Academy, Canada College, and Cumberland University. Max precedes his parents, David and Francesca Kautz, his brother and sister Nick and Siena Kautz (Steven Odom), his niece River Odom and many aunts, uncles and cousins who are devastated by his loss. Please donate to any charity dedicated to combating the fentanyl crisis by reducing overdose deaths.