Meet Our Staff

Nicholas Jon Welzenbach

Managing Partner

Nicholas Welzenbach is a second-generation funeral professional. He has been serving families for nearly 20 years.  He began his career in San Diego. He and his wife Kendall relocated to the Bay Area 10 years ago. Nicholas is the Managing Partner of Darling Fischer in Campbell & Los Gatos as well as Los Gatos Memorial Park.  Nicholas is an active member of the community. He serves on the Board for both the Campbell Chamber and the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, the Campbell Veteran Memorial Foundation Board, and is an active Los Gatos Rotarian. 

He and his staff are working daily to care for families, while also working to reinvent funeral service around Celebrations of Life and by helping families find new and unique ways to tell their loved ones stories.  While funeral and cemetery service are his life’s work and passion, what he truly loves is being with his family.  Kendall and Nicholas have a daughter Audrey, and a son Lachlan. His daily work has shown him the true value of every moment.

Jeff Fischer

Funeral Director, Consultant - Marketing & Outreach

Jeff is a former owner of Darling & Fischer and is still active in our business as a funeral director and consultant. His extensive experience and resources help us provide the best possible care and service for every family, every time.

Mayra Mexicano

Funeral Arranger

Cynthia P. Ibarra

Administrative Assistant

Maarja Pallo

Administrative Assistant

Angelina Coates

Ambassador

Angelina is a native of California.  Originally from Los Angeles, she moved to the Bay Area about 15 years ago with her family.  Those who met Angelina would say that she is a kind soul with the energy level of a marathon runner.  

Angelina joined Darling & Fischer in July 2016 as an ambassador.  Now, she works with our care team to prepare loved ones for their eternal rest. Her love for people translates into her work as she diligently takes care to make sure that dignity is preserved for each and every person that we have the honor to care for. 

Angelina is an active member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  When not at work, she enjoys jogging and spending time with her children.

Carlos Fagundes

Ambassador

Cindy White

Ambassador

Connie Oliveira

Ambassador

Connie was born in Pico, Azores. She has lived in the Bay Area for 30 years with her husband.  She has been active in the Portuguese community all of her life.   Connie came to know Darling and Fischer intimately when she lost first her father and then her mother years later.   She has always had a passion for caring for others so it made sense that she would choose to help people during the most difficult of times.  After her personal experience with Darling and Fischer, she was quite impressed with their level of dignity and kindness.  When the opportunity presented itself, she was delighted to become a part of the  Darling & Fischer team. 

Dan Fichera

Ambassador

Dan was born and lived his entire life in San Jose except for a few years while in the US Air Force. He returned to San Jose to marry his wife Jan and raised two children Robert and Danyell. He became an integral part of the Bay Area’s technology companies working for Memorex, Amdahl, and Northrup Grumman where he served as programmer, manager, and business systems project management. Towards the end of his career, Dan worked for Adobe Systems, Calpine, Visa, and HP in a variety of technology related positions. Dan retired early only to perform his most meaningful job, caregiver for his ailing parents. Shortly after that, a position with Darling Fischer as Ambassador was accepted and is fully enjoying that line of work for the past 3 ½ years.

Douglas Peterson

Ambassador

Douglas was born in Minneapolis but has lived in San Jose since 1969. He became interested in funeral service as a teenager, but since he also enjoyed cooking, he ultimately chose to go to culinary school and become a chef. He worked his way into management and has worked for Sodexo, a food service management company, for the past 29 years. Douglas is also a church organist and choir director for both his home church in Almaden and a sister congregation in Los Gatos.  He met his late wife Suzanne in church, and they were married for 23 years. Douglas has 3 stepchildren and 5 step grandchildren.  When an opportunity to become an Ambassador at Darling & Fischer presented itself in 2019, he was finally able to fulfill his calling to enter funeral service, allowing him to help others in their time of need.

Estéban Covarrubias

Ambassador

Greg Trapp

Ambassador

Greg works with his wife Irene as fellow ambassadors, having worked at Darling Fischer for two years. He is a retired police sergeant with San Jose PD and a volunteer pastor at Evergreen Valley Church. He is also active with the Police Chaplaincy and enjoys riding his motorcycle with the Patriot Guard - a group of riders who escort soldiers and their families for various events.  The Trapp's are parents to Ben and Rachael, both recently married. 

Irene Trapp

Ambassador

Irene works with her husband Greg as ambassadors for Darling Fischer. They've been with Darling Fischer for two years now. She is a musician - vocalist and violinist - an actress in local theatre and volunteers with Joni and Friends, a ministry to families affected by disability. Irene also enjoys singing on worship team at Evergreen Valley Church. The Trapp's are parents to Ben and Rachael, both recently married. 

Linda Christensen

Ambassador

Linda with her husband Randy have worked as ambassadors for Darling Fischer for about 2 years.  Linda is a native of California having been born right here at San Jose Hospital.  She volunteers in the records department and does fingerprinting for the Morgan Hill Police Department and marshals at Pebble Beach golf tournaments. Linda along with her husband work at the San Jose Theatres for Team San Jose.  This gives her the opportunity to see most of the performances and productions at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, the Montgomery Theatre and the California Theatre while enhancing the experience of the patrons.  Linda and Randy have 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

Luis Amarante

Ambassador

Randy Christensen

Ambassador

Randy works with his wife Linda as ambassador partners and both have been with Darling Fischer for about two years.  He retired from Cisco Systems in 2014 after being a corporate webmaster for 15 years.  Randy enjoys volunteering at the City of Morgan Hill's Police Department and Office of Emergency Services, as a disaster preparedness instructor for the Morgan Hill Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), as a marshal at Pebble Beach golf tournaments and with the local council of the Boys Scouts of America.  He, along with his wife, also work for Team San Jose as ushers at San Jose's Center for the Performing Arts, the California Theater and the Montgomery Theater.  The center of Randy's universe is his wife along with their 4 children and 4 grandchildren.