`Tiger' Warren, 48, Eulogized As Beacon -- Businessman's Light Spirit Remembered

PORTLAND - William "Tiger" Warren, founder of the Macheezmo Mouse restaurant chain, was eulogized at a funeral Mass yesterday where sorrow over his death was eased by memories of his fun-loving qualities.

A vintage motorcycle was parked in the church vestibule, and one of the eulogizers wore a leopard-print outfit - homages to his sense of adventure and to his mischievousness.

The 48-year-old restaurateur and his three sons were killed when their floatplane crashed into the Columbia River last week.

"There will inevitably be sadness here," said the Rev. Michael Maslowsky. "But sadness can't be the keynote. It would be too jarring a contrast to the life of Tiger Warren - the goodness, the energy, the sheer devilishness of the man."

A memorial service for his sons - Jack, 14, Will, 13, and Rob, 9 - was held Wednesday.

The plane carrying the family apparently lost power on takeoff during a visit to the family's vacation home near Prindle, Skamania County.

Mourners filled the pews and aisles of St. Mary's Cathedral in Portland, spilling outside.

Maslowsky and four eulogizers remembered Warren as a Peter Pan figure loved by children and with an unparalleled sense of style and adventure.

"He believed intensely in family, friends and fun - not always necessarily in that order," said his older brother, Robert Warren Jr.

He said his younger brother always dabbled in the arts, including photography, filmmaking and architecture, but never found the perfect way to express himself.

"I believe his art is here," Robert Warren said to the friends and relatives gathered in the church. "I think he's been painting with all of you. . . . I ask you to remember him with each other, as you were the people he chose for his masterpiece."

William Warren was born into a family of prominent Portland industrialists. He had a short career as a filmmaker - and became friends with director Gus Van Sant, who served as a pallbearer.

He went to work as a steel salesman for a family company, but continued his love of motorcycles, cool cars and rock 'n' roll.

Along with his bike in the church's vestibule, a photograph showed a younger Warren speeding across the desert on a motorcycle, and another picture was of him and his sons smiling in front of their plane. His green Jaguar was parked in front of the hearse.

He founded Macheezmo Mouse in the early 1980s with the idea of serving low-fat, inexpensive Mexican dishes in quirky surroundings. He took the company public in 1994, turning his shares into a $9.2 million investment in one day.

But the chain of restaurants has since struggled, and stock was trading for just pennies recently.

Stephen Babson, a friend from childhood who later served as Warren's attorney, remembered the trouble they got into over the years - from playing pranks on the Warren family's Irish gardener to busting out laughing at a meeting where they were trying to attract financing for the flailing restaurant chain.

"He could make going to McDonald's seem like going to the Taj Mahal," Babson said. "He traveled faster, he burned brighter, than anyone I have ever known."