Jess Jackson

A public memorial service for Kendall-Jackson founder Jess Jackson will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa.

Jackson died April 21 at his Geyserville estate of complications from cancer. He was 81.

Jackson built Jackson Family Wines into one of the nation's largest wine companies. He and his wife, Barbara Banke, became a notable part of the county's philanthropic community.

The celebration of Jackson's life will include remembrances by family and friends, including film director John Lasseter and Janet Durgin, head of Sonoma Academy. Franc D'Ambrosio, who portrayed the Phantom in the musical "Phantom of the Opera," and Keiko Cadby, a concert violinist from Sonoma, will perform.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Jackson's honor be made to five organizations: the Family Justice Center in Santa Rosa, the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa, the Boys & Girls Clubs Central Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America in Lexington, Ky., or the Belmont Child Care Association in Elmont, N.Y.

??? Press Democrat staff