One spring afternoon, Joseph M. Frankle decided to take a road trip to Lake Tahoe, completely spur of the moment. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for him—he was off work, and he told his son Bob that he'd had a great time.

Frankle was 86 years old at the time.

"He said he needed a break," Bob says. "He was a fellow who had to be active."

A 20-year Cupertino resident, Frankle passed away at Stanford Hospital on March 3, not even a year after that impromptu vacation. Until almost a year before his death, Frankle worked as a wholesale lighting salesman, covering territory from Palo Alto to Santa Cruz. He was a salesman all his life. "Even at 86, he still had hundreds of customers, and they were mostly all his friends," Bob says. "He was a consummate salesman in all the best ways."

Born in Baltimore on Jan. 24, 1917, Frankle was only 13 years old when his father died. His family fell into destitution, so he was pressed to work at a young age with no opportunity for college.

Frankle sold the first televisions in Washington, D.C., and worked for many years as a Fuller Brush man. He and his first wife, Pearl, raised their three sons in Silver Spring, Md. After Pearl died in 1964, he met German immigrant Helga Werner at a dance studio.

They married in 1967, and Frankle worked to reunite Helga with her estranged son, who was living with her ex-husband in Germany. "His only hobby was helping people," Bob says.

A number of organizations benefited from Frankle's charitable instincts, including Freemasonry and B'nai B'rith.

One of his favorite causes was Dentistry for the Handicapped, a Masonic group that bankrolled dental work for children with afflictions like cerebral palsy. Frankle ran the program for a time. "He got such a thrill out of it," Bob says. "Mothers would call and tell him, 'My child has a wider smile.."

Frankle followed Bob to California in 1980, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Helga died in 1995, but Frankle remained active and only slowed down in the past year. He also maintained a solid sense of humor.

"A few years ago, he printed up invitations to his own 100th birthday party.," Bob says. "He was just in a place where he felt good about life. I told people at the service to raise a toast in his honor on Jan. 24, 2017."

Frankle is survived by three sons: Bob Frankle of Menlo Park, Nick Frankle of Thousand Oaks, and Alan Frankle of Rockville, Md. He also leaves behind six grandchildren: Paul and Mark Frankle of Menlo Park, James Frankle of Sunnyvale, Donna Dodd of San Marcos, and Elissa and Jonathan Frankle of Rockville, Md.

Interment was in Washington, D.C., and a local memorial service is being planned. Contributions in his name can be made to Dentistry for the Handicapped, the Humanitarian Foundation, 1696 Brice Road, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068.