Charles S. Nisbet; Camarillo Interior Designer

Charles Seymour Nisbet, an interior designer who dedicated much of his life to helping recovering alcoholics, died Monday after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.

Nisbet, who prided himself on 31 years as a sober alcoholic, moved to Camarillo four years ago from the Mar Vista area to be closer to his seven grandchildren, said his son, Jeffrey Owen Nisbet of Camarillo.

While running his commercial design business, Charles S. Nisbet Design, he remained an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous, helping men and women--including many in prison--kick the habit.

“Any time, day or night, he would get up out of bed, meet them for coffee, put his arms around them and tell them everything was going to be all right,” Jeffrey Nisbet said. “He touched hundreds and hundreds of people from all over the place.”

He also put his interior design talents to good use at Padre Sierra Parish in Camarillo, helping church officials decorate the Catholic church each Easter and Christmas.

Nisbet was born in Coral Gables, Fla., on Nov. 16, 1926. His family moved to the Glendale area when he was a young boy.

He is survived by his fiancee, Theresa Arncrich of Camarillo; three sisters, Patti Blumenkrantz, Jayne McAllister and Mary Gowan; five sons, Charles Stephen Nisbet of New York, Jeffrey Owen Nisbet of Camarillo, Gary Seymour Nisbet of Seattle, Gregory Paul Nisbet of Houston, and Scott Christopher Nisbet of Mar Vista; two daughters, Sharon Nisbet Mulick of Thousand Oaks and Laura Elizabeth Nisbet of Mar Vista; and seven grandchildren.

Visitation will be Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., with a rosary recital at 7 p.m. in the Chapel of the Islands, Conejo Mountain Memorial Park, Camarillo.

A funeral mass will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Padre Sierra Parish, 5205 Upland Road, Camarillo.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his memory to Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Assn. Hospice program at 1996 Eastman Ave., No. 101, Ventura, 93003.