2024 obituaries: Notable Bay Area residents who died
We knew their names because they were our neighbors.
Some of them served our communities, others were leaders of business and industry, played or coached for the region’s sports teams, or entertained us at popular events.
And in 2024, we said a final farewell.
Here are the stories of several notable residents who died this past year:
January
Richard Thornton, 65: He was a member of the 1980 Olympic swimming team, then became a renowned swimming coach and founded the San Ramon Valley Aquatics program; Jan. 4
Bud Harrelson, 79: The native of Hayward was a beloved member of the New York Mets and was part of the team’s two World Series championships — first as a player in 1969, then as a coach in 1986; Jan. 11
Ruth Ashton Taylor, 101: She was a trailblazing TV and radio journalist, becoming the first female TV newscaster to work on the West Coast; Jan. 11
Frank Torres, 38: He was an executive with the San Jose Barracudas, overseeing the hockey team’s business operations and playing a key role in the opening of Tech CU Arena; Jan. 15
Dejan Milojević, 46: The native of Serbia was a star basketball player and coach in Europe, then came to the U.S. as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors; Jan. 16
N. Scott Momaday, 89: The former Stanford professor was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose debut novel “House Made of Dawn” is credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature; Jan. 24
Irma Anderson, 93: She was a public health nurse who political history in Richmond as the first Black woman elected to the City Council, and again when she was the first (and only) Black woman elected as mayor; Jan. 28
Hal Buell, 92: He was the director of photography at Associated Press for four decades, and he helped the news organization transition into the era of digital photography; Jan. 29
Carl Weathers died Feb. 1. He was 76. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/AFP via Getty Images)
February
Carl Weathers, 76: He was a San Francisco State graduate and former player for the Oakland Raiders before turning to acting, playing Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies and starring in other films such as “Predator” and “Happy Gilmore”; Feb. 1
Seiji Ozawa, 88: The legendary Japanese conductor led symphonies around the globe, including a memorable stop at San Francisco Symphony in the 1970s; Feb. 6
Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli, 116: The Mendocino County resident was the oldest living person in the United States at the time of her death; Feb. 22
March
Joe Bodovitz, 93: He helped build the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and was the first executive director of the California Coastal Commission; March 9
James Cramer, 64: He was an Alameda County judge who in 2018 notably rejected a plea deal involving the two men charged in connection with the Ghost Ship warehouse fire; March 20
Richard Serra, 85: The acclaimed artist and sculptor, who was known for creating large metal structures, was a native of San Francisco; March 26
Daniel Kahneman, 90: He was a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and one-time UC Berkeley professor who, with Stanford psychologist Amos Tversky, conducted groundbreaking work on decision-making; March 27
Daniel C. Lynch, 82: He was a computer network engineer whose exhibitions on networking equipment helped accelerate the commercialization of the internet in the 1980s and ’90s; March 30
Cecil Williams died April 22. He was 94. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
April
Randy Isaacs, 59: He was a former basketball coach at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, leading the team to a state championship game berth in 2000; April 6
Ken Holtzman, 78: He was a starting pitcher for the Oakland A’s who, with Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter, helped lead the team to three consecutive World Series victories in the early 1970; April 14
Gail Dobson, 81: She was a singer, percussionist and teacher considered “the den mother for a large contingent of the Bay Area jazz community”; April 17
Mandisa, 47: The Grammy-winning singer, a native of Northern California, got her big break as a contestant on “American Idol” in 2006; April 18
Dave McCarty, 54: He was a college baseball star at Stanford, then played for the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants in his 11-season career; April 19
Cecil Williams, 94: The co-founder of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco put himself and his church at the forefront of many civil rights causes that shaped Bay Area history; April 22
Delaine Eastin, 76: She was a longtime politician who got her start on the Union City Council, then later became first woman to serve as California’s superintendent of public instruction; April 23
Sonja Christopher, 87: The Walnut Creek resident was the first person ever kicked off the reality show “Survivor”; April 26
May
Jimmy Johnson, 86: The Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback was an NFL legend who played all 16 of his seasons with the 49ers; May 8
Pete McCloskey, 96: The former South Bay congressman — a Republican who called for Richard Nixon’s resignation and opposed the Vietnam War — also was an environmental leader who co-founded Earth Day; May 8
Peter Buxtun, 86: He was a former federal public health employee in San Francisco who blew the whistle on the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study; May 18
Charlie Colin, 58: The bassist was a founding member of the San Francisco-based band Train; May 18
Larry Bensky, 87: The Berkeley-based activist journalist was the longtime voice of KPFA news radio, and he moderated live radio during some of the nation’s most turbulent times; May 19
Jim Otto, 86: He was a Pro Football Hall of Famer who played center as an original member of the Oakland Raiders; May 20
Willie Mims, 79: The longtime Pittsburg resident, a retired teacher, was a longtime civil rights activist who advocated for justice for people from all walks of life; May 22
Yosh Uchida died June 27. He was 104. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group Archives)
June
Larry Allen, 52: He was a Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman who played college football at Sonoma State and later with the 49ers for two seasons in his 14-year career; June 2
Victor Garza, 86: He was a civil rights activist in Santa Clara County and received nationwide acclaim for his work on behalf of Latino, Mexican-American and veterans rights; June 6
Warren Winiarski, 95; The winemaker put Napa Valley on the map after his cabernet topped French versions at the famed 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting; June 7
Nathan Hare, 91: The noted sociologist created the first Black studies program in the country at San Francisco State and was co-founder of the The Black Scholar, an Oakland-based journal; June 10
Jerry West, 86: The much-loved NBA player, coach and team executive, whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, also won two titles as a Golden State Warriors adviser; June 12
Willie Mays, 93: The legendary San Francisco Giants star, known as the “Say Hey Kid,” captured the imagination of fans with both his bat and glove; June 18
Yosh Uchida, 104: The legendary San Jose State judo coach was a major force in growing the martial art in the United States after World War II; June 27
Orlando Cepeda, 86: The longtime San Francisco Giants first baseman was an 11-time All-Star and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame; June 28
Brooks Johnson, 90: The track-and-field coach was a mainstay with the U.S, Track and Field staff, and coached at Stanford for more than a decade; June 29
Richard Thornton during his time at Cal. (Photo courtesy of Thornton family)
FILE – New York Mets’ Bud Harrelson posed in 1970. Bud Harrelson, the scrappy and sure-handed shortstop who fought Pete Rose on the field during a playoff game and helped the New York Mets win an astonishing championship, died Wednesday night, Jan. 10, 2024. He was 79. The Mets said Thursday morning that Harrelson died at a hospice house in East Northport, New York after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. (AP Photo)
Former broadcast journalist Ruth Ashton Taylor celebrates her 100th birthday with friends and family at the apartment complex where she lives in San Rafael, Calif., on April 20, 2022. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
An image of Frank Torres, vice president of business operations at the San Jose Barracuda, is shown during the pregame ceremony before the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic Game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
FILE – Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević smiles during an NBA preseason basketball game against the Denver Nuggets San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević, a mentor to two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and a former star player in his native Serbia, died Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after suffering a heart attack, the team announced. Milojević, part of the staff that helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship, was 46.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
In 2006, Mayor Irma Anderson laughs as she reflects on her time in office and her time as a nurse on Tuesday December 5, 2006 in Richmond, Calif. Anderson has spent most of her life in Richmond. (Gregory Urquiaga/Contra Costa Times)
FILE – The Associated Press’ assistant general manager for news photos Hal Buell, center, and Dave Herbert, right, the consultant who wrote the electronic darkroom software, explain PhotoStream at the American Newspaper Publishers Association technical convention in Las Vegas in June 1987. Buell, who led The Associated Press’ photo operations from the darkroom era into the age of digital photography over a four-decade career with the news organization that included 12 Pulitzer Prizes and running some of the defining images of the Vietnam War, has died. Buell died Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif., where his daughter lived, after battling pneumonia. He was 92. (AP Photo)
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
US director/actor Carl Weathers arrives to a special screening of season three of The Mandalorian at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on February 28, 2023. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Music Director Seiji Ozawa in rehearsal with the San Francisco Symphony
Judge James Cramer was appointed to the bench in 2015.
Joe Bodovitz, the first executive director of the California Coastal Commission, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, shown here at Land’s End in San Francisco in 2018, died March 9, 2024 at age 93. (Photo: Bodovitz family)
FILE – Famed American sculptor Richard Serra poses for a portrait next to “Sequence” during the press preview of “Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years” at the Museum of Modern Art, May 29, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
President Barack Obama awards psychologist Daniel Kahneman the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Nov. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
dino vournas/staff 3/18/00 tribune sports
Things looked grim in the first half for Foothill and coach Randy Isaacs against Bishop Montgomery in the Div.III boys state final.
Pitcher Ken Holtzman, of the Oakland As, hurls a pitch towards a Mets batter in fifth inning, of the first game of the World Series, Saturday, Oct. 13, 1973, Oakland, Calif. Holtzman pitched five complete innings. (AP Photo)
Gail Dobson and Smith Dobson were popular fixtures in the Bay Area jazz scene for years. A concert tribute to Gail Dobson, who died recently, will be held in San Francisco on June. 2. (Lifeforce Records)
FILE – Mandisa performs during the Dove Awards Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. Mandisa, a contemporary Christian singer who appeared on “American Idol” and won a Grammy for her 2013 album ‘Overcomer’, has died. She was 47. A representative for the singer told The Associated Press that the singer was found dead in her home in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE – Kansas City Royals batter Dave McCarty inspects his bat after hitting a foul ball during the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers in a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, May 31, 2001. McCarty, a member of the Boston Red Sox championship team in 2004 who played with seven MLB teams in an 11-year career, has died. He was 54.
The Red Sox announced McCarty’s death in a statement, saying the former first baseman and outfielder died Friday, April 19, 2024, after suffering a cardiac event in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Bill Janscha, File)
Delaine Eastin, gubernatorial candidate, speaks during a panel discussion at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, “Game Changers 2018”, forum at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)
The Rev. Cecil Williams leads a service at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, Sunday, May 24, 1998. Williams told his congregation that he has two years before he retires at the mandatory retirement of 70. Williams has been pastor for 35 years and the church has been nationally known as a santuary for the poor. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
376782 04: Contestant Sonja Christopher arrives for the “Survivor: The Reunion” party at the CBS studios August 23, 2000 in Los Angeles, CA. Christopher was one of 16 contestants who spent over a month on an island participating in the popular television game show “Survivor.” (Photo by Online USA)
Former Congressman Pete McCloskey, in his law office in Redwood City, Calif., on Thursday, March 16, 2006. McCloskey, a pro-environment, anti-war California Republican who co-wrote the Endangered Species Act and co-founded Earth Day, has died. He was 96. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
FILE – San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame football player Jimmy Johnson, left, is honored by owner Jed York before an NFL game between the 49ers and St. Louis Rams in San Francisco, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Jimmy Johnson, a three-time All-Pro and member of the All-Decade Team of the 1970s, has died. He was 86. Johnson’s family told the Pro Football Hall of Fame that he died on Wednesday night, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
Aug. 7, 1964 Oakland, CA – Jim Otto leads the Oakland Raiders offensive line. (By Howard Erker / Oakland Tribune)
KPFA investigative reporter and former host of the Sunday Salon, Larry Bensky, talks to a group of supporters outside the radio station in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, January 31, 2000, during a rally to support striking reporters who freelance for the station. Bensky died on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He was 87. (Rod A. Lamkey Jr./Bay Area News Group archive)
FILE – Charlie Colin appears at the Friendly House Los Angeles’ 24th Annual Awards Luncheon on Oct. 26, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
Willie Mims, of Pittsburg, poses in front of the Pittsburg Unified School District Administration Building in Pittsburg, Calif.,on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Mims was the unofficial sixth board member of every council and school board around, known for going to meetings and raising issues and concerns, and for holding elected officials’ feet to the fire. He lost his battle to cancer on May 22, 2024. (Dan Rosenstrauch/Bay Area News Group)
Liz Hafalia/San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press
Peter Buxtun is pictured in San Francisco in this undated photo. Bruxton, the whistleblower who revealed that the U.S. government allowed hundreds of Black men in rural Alabama go untreated for syphilis in what became known as the Tuskegee study, died on May 18, 2024, from Alzheimer’s disease in Rocklin, Calif. (Liz Hafalia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
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Richard Thornton during his time at Cal. (Photo courtesy of Thornton family)
Richard Bernes, 78: The former San Jose FBI agent launched the agency’s “high-tech crime squad” in the mid-1990s, when the theft of semiconductor chips was common; July 5
Jerry Miller, 81: The musician, once called “the best guitar player in the world,” was a founding member of the pioneering ’60s San Francisco psychedelic rock band Moby Grape; July 20
Edward Panelli, 92: The native of Santa Clara was a lawyer who went on to serve as a Superior Court judge before his appointment to the California Supreme Court in 1985; July 20
Kenzie Smith, 43: He was a well-known Black community activist in Oakland who was at the heart of the infamous “BBQ Becky” incident at Lake Merritt in 2018; July 20
Reyes Moronta, 31: The former MLB pitcher played for six seasons, including four with the San Francisco Giants; July 28
Susan Wojcicki died Aug. 9. She was 56. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group Archives)
August
Frank Milo, 83: The longtime football coach at El Cerrito High School led his teams to eight league titles; Aug. 1
Chris Esparza, 57: The San Jose resident, who as founder of an events company planned many memorable events, also was known for being a creative entrepreneur and fervent arts supporter; Aug. 4
Tsung-Dao Lee, 97: The Chinese-American physicist, who worked briefly at UC Berkeley, won the Nobel Prize in 1957 and was considered one of the great masters in the field of particle physics; Aug. 4
Ellen Corbett, 69: The longtime East Bay public official was San Leandro’s first female mayor, then was elected to serve in both the state Assembly and the state Senate; Aug. 9
Susan Wojcicki, 56: She was a Silicon Valley pioneer — becoming Google’s 16th employee after the tech titan started in her garage — then later went on to serve as CEO at YouTube; Aug. 9
Greg Kihn, 75: He was the founder of Greg Kihn Band, which had hits with “The Breakup Song” and “Jeopardy,” and was a longtime DJ for KUFX radio in the Bay Area; Aug. 13
Al Attles, 87: The legendary member of the Golden State Warriors joined the team in 1960, then never left — first playing with the franchise, then coaching it to an NBA Finals championship before moving on to front-office roles; Aug. 20
Rich Firato, 64: The longtime Morgan Hill resident built a much-loved pirate’s outpost, dubbed Morgan’s Cove, in his backyard; Aug. 22
September
Al Boro, 89: The former San Rafael mayor was a longtime public official who served as president of the Golden Gate Bridge District; Sept. 1
Kathryn Crosby, 90: The former film and stage actress hosted a morning talk show on KPIX-TV in the 1970s and was famously married to singer Bing Crosby; Sept. 20
Phil Lesh died Oct. 25. He was 84. (D. Ross Cameron/Bay Area News Group Archives)
October
Philip G. Zimbardo, 91: He was the psychologist behind the controversial “Stanford Prison Experiment” that was intended to examine the psychological experiences of imprisonment; Oct. 14
Phil Lesh, 84: He was a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling by reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead; Oct. 25
November
Barbara Sobalvarro, 83: She was the founder and honorary president of the Antioch Friends of Animal Services; Nov. 6
Bob Drucker, 84: The legendary boys basketball coach at St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco led the school to two Central Coast Section championships and a NorCal crown; Nov. 28
Jim McMillan, 96: The longtime Richmond resident was the city’s first Black pharmacist, and he later served on the City Council for more than a decade; Nov. 28
Rich Bernes, who oversaw the FBI’s high-tech crime squad on Wednesday, March 27, 1996. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group archive)
Kenzie Smith first met the woman in question, Jennifer Schulte, who reported him and his friends to the police in 2018 for barbecuing at Lake Merritt with a charcoal grill in the infamous BBQ Becky incident. (courtesy photo)
From left, Dr. Chen Ning Yang of Princeton University; Prof Daniel Bovet of Rome, who received prize in medicine for work in the field of pharmacology; Dr. Tsung Dao Lee, of Columbia University, who shares the physics prize with Chen for disproving the law of parity, long considered a fundamental law of nature; Sir Alexander Todd of Cambridge University, England, cited for his work in chemistry; and Albert Camus, of France, who received the prize in literature, are shown after receiving their awards in Stockholm, Sweden, Dec. 10, 1957. Chinese-American physicist Tsung-Dao Lee, who in 1957 became the second youngest scientist ever to receive a Nobel Prize, died Sunday, Aug 4, 2024 at his home in San Francisco at the age of 97, according to a Chinese university and a research center. (AP Photo)
Edward A. Panelli, 1986 file photo.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 18: A portrait of San Francisco Giants’ Reyes Moronta (54) during team photo day at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020. (Randy Vazquez / Bay Area News Group)
Former El Cerrito football coach Frank Milo, center right, greets football players after tossing the coin before the opening season game between El Cerrito and Sacramento’s Inderkum at El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. The football field was dedicated to Frank Milo. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Chris Esparza, founder of the event company Giant, at the Blackbird Tavern on Friday, June 21, 2013. Esparza died of a heart attack at age 57 on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
State Senator Ellen Corbett thanks supporters during a “closing house” gathering at her office in San Leandro, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 19, 2014. Corbett, a democratic senate majority leader who represents the 10th District and has spent all but two of the last 24 years in various public offices, steps down at the end of November after two terms.(Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Susan Wojcicki, Senior Vice President, Product Management at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., on December 8, 2010. (LiPo Ching/Mercury News)
Al Attles stands at center court and waves to the audience before their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Michele Eve Sandberg/Invision/AP
Greg Kihn performs at Pompano Beach Amphitheater on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 in Pompano Beach, Fla. (Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg/Invision/AP)
Rich Firato of Morgan Hill sits for a portrait inside the “Lady Morgan,” a one-third scale Spanish galleon in the backyard of his Morgan Hill home, on Jan. 18, 2022. The galleon is part of “Morgan’s Cove,” Firato’s swashbuckling pirate paradise he built in his backyard. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Former San Rafael mayor Al Boro stands at Vista Point in Sausalito on Dec. 29, 2008. (IJ archive/Alan Dep)
FILE – Kathryn Crosby sits beside photo of her late husband, Bing Crosby in New York on Nov. 14, 1977. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
Stanford psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo gives his last lecture on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto on March 7, 2007. (Paul Sakuma/AP file photo)
Phil Lesh plays with his band Further at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley in 2013. (Alan Dep/IJ archive)
Barbara Sobalvarro was a passionate advocate for animal welfare. She played a key role in establishing Measure A to creating a local animal control program. (Photo courtesy of Antioch Friends of Animal Services Facebook page)
Former Richmond Councilmember Jim McMillan, right, and Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia are photographed at McMillan’s 90th birthday celebration. McMillan died at home Thursday, Nov. 28, a day before his 97th birthday. (Photo by Rita Xavier)
Bishop Emeritus John S. Cummins, center, speaks during a mass and memorial for former Bishop O’Dowd High School President Dr. Stephen W. Phelps at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Phelps, president of the school since 2005, died of complications after heart surgery at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco on Dec. 26. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Kabir “Kabeezy” Singh attends the red carpet for “America’s Got Talent” Season 16 live shows at the Dolby Theatre on Aug. 10, 2021, in Los Angeles. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images/TNS)
FILE – Indian drum maestro Zakir Hussain performs at the “Living Dream Concert” in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi, File)
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Rich Bernes, who oversaw the FBI’s high-tech crime squad on Wednesday, March 27, 1996. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group archive)
John Cummins, 96: He was the longest-serving bishop at the Diocese of Oakland, serving for 26 years, and was a member of several national Catholic committees; Dec. 3
Kabir “Kabeezy” Singh, 39: The Fremont native was a popular stand-up comedian, and was a semifinalist on the TV show “America’s Got Talent” in 2021; Dec. 4
Zakir Hussain, 73: The San Francisco resident was a prolific player of the Indian tabla hand drums and helped bring Indian classical music to an international audience; Dec. 15
Associated Press and CNN Wire Services contributed to this report.
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