Michael Balleau

Michael Balleau

1984-2019

Michael Ferguson Balleau, known by family and friends as ‘’Mick,’’ owner of restaurants in Melbourne, Australia, and in Guadalajara, Mexico, died of a heart attack on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, at his apartment in Guadalajara. He was 35-years old.

Born Feb. 10, 1984, in Bosque Farms, he graduated from St. Pius X High School in 2002, where he was an award-winning swimmer and lifeguard. Mick earned dual degrees in geography and Spanish in 2006 from the University of New Mexico, where he was on the dean’s list. He studied for a semester at the Universidad de Guadalajara and a semester in Spain, and was fluent in Spanish.

He became a water-resource specialist at the N.M. State Engineer Office, supporting the adjudication of water rights by researching the water-use history in an area. He took his guitar along to set the tone for interviewing parciantes on the acequia systems.

Mick held U.S. and Australian citizenship, thanks to his mother, Adrienne Cullinan Balleau, who was from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 2010 to join his brother, William, in founding a dazzlingly successful restaurant business, the Balleau Bros. The enterprise grew from a taco truck to prominence at three venues in suburban Melbourne. Their international expansion onto a plaza in Guadalajara was pending.

His friends noted that his beer was cheap, and his tequila costly; his hat, his dog, his heart and circle of friends were big. He wrote poetry.

Que te sepas también que respiro el nombre de ti, varias veces cada día, con risas y con el viento.

He is survived by his father, William Peter Balleau; sister, Kathrine Marie; nephew, Aiden Henry; and faithful brother, William Charles.

His mother passed away in 2016.

A memorial website can be memories.net/

timeline/michael-balleau-80583.

Photos, tributes, stories, and other contributions for the memorial site are welcome and can be sent to [email protected].