Mr. E. David Stoloff

David Stoloff died peacefully Monday May 29^th at St. Paul’s Towers in Oakland, CA. Two of his children, Sam and Jennifer, were at his bedside. David died from Alzheimer’s disease.

Eugene David Stoloff was born in Los Angeles on February 20, 1932. He was the third child and only son of Sam and Jennie (Barab) Stoloff. He had two older sisters, Sylvia and Elaine. We’ll never know why David’s parents always called him “David” but Eugene only appears on his birth certificate, passport, tax records, and occasionally as a mysterious “E.” on a credit card. Most people called him David, but old army buddies and the occasional male friend would use “Dave.”

David lived in Los Angeles for less than a year before the family moved to Reno, Nev., where his father Sam had a job managing the Montgomery Ward. The family lived in Reno until David was 8. They lost all their possessions in a house fire. The next stop was Stockton, where Sam had a few small businesses, including a coin-operated laundry. Helping out at the laundry was David’s first job and he was excited to be old enough to have that responsibility. David’s mother was often unwell and the job of day-to-day care of David fell to his middle sister, Elaine, only five years his elder. Elaine had a creative approach to childcare, including putting five-year-old David on a diet.

David once told a story about when milk was delivered in bottles and, in the colder months, the cream would rise to the top and freeze. He said some kids would steal the cream top—later, thanks to Alzheimer’s, he revealed that he was one of those kids! He also shared stories about getting a quarter to spend an entire day at the movies. David joined the Boy Scouts and made it as far as Star Scout, before defecting with some friends for the Sea Scouts.

After the family moved to Lodi, David graduated high school a year early and went to San Jose State for college on the advice of a teacher who said it was a good place to study journalism. After two years at San Jose State, he decided to transfer to the University of Chicago. A happy circumstance, and possibly the motivation for the move, was that his eldest sister, Sylvia, lived in Chicago. David was always close to Sylvia, her husband Art (Arthur Gordon) and their three sons.

David studied Urban Planning, and, through a quirk of the rules at U of C, he bypassed the BA program and graduated with an MA. After graduating in 1954, David enlisted in the Army and served two years, one at Camp Pendleton and the second in Germany. David was assigned to a “clerk corps” due to his ability to touch type. He took a test where he wasn’t the fastest typist, but the only one who never looked at his hands. His three children heard this story many times and they were strongly encouraged to learn to touch type (only Sam came close to being as fast a typist as David, and Charlie never learned).

After he was discharged, David moved to New York City, but didn’t stay long because he got a job in Tennessee as senior area planner for the Tennessee State Planning Commission (1956-59). He met his first wife, Barbara (Reynolds), in Tennessee and soon they moved to New York City, where their two sons, Sam and Charlie (later Avraham Shimon), were born.

In New York, David worked as a planner for the New York Regional Plan Association (1959-1961). He was a lecturer at Hunter College and at the New School for Social Research. David was active in the American Institute of Planners, and was the national coordinator for Planners for Equal Opportunity. From 1967-69 he was the Director of the Commission on Community Interrelations, American Jewish Congress. He also worked with the Metropolitan Committee on Planning, the group that tried to stop the destruction of the neighborhood where the World Trade Center was built.

After David and Barbara divorced in 1964, he met his second wife, Judith (Gutman) Stoloff, while working in local politics. David and Judith were active in social justice activities. They married in 1966 and had one daughter, Jennifer, who was born in New York City, like her brothers.

David and Judith moved to Connecticut in the early 1970s, where David worked for The Greater Hartford Process, an effort to integrate the central city and the suburbs in Hartford. They then moved to Knoxville, Tenn., where David worked as an independent consultant and Judith was an associate professor of Urban Planning at the University of Tennessee. They lived there until 1980 when the family moved to Washington, D.C., where David worked briefly for FEMA and Judith was at the NSF. After David and Judith divorced, David moved to San Francisco to live with his father after his mother’s death. Within a year, David met Susan Klee and they married in July 1982. They remained married until David’s death.

David worked for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency for about five years where he was involved in the redevelopment of the China Basin neighborhood. He moved to Berkeley after he married Susan and had a commute he didn’t love. After becoming eligible for retirement, he left the Redevelopment Agency and he and Susan moved to Florence, Italy, for a year in 1986-87. David learned to make a variety of Italian dishes but tried and failed to learn the language.

When they returned to Berkeley, David started working for the University of California at Berkeley developing housing for students, faculty, and staff.  After retiring from UC-Berkeley, David did a variety of consulting work, including one project for USAID that took him to the former Soviet Union several times and once to Albania. David also founded Affordable Housing Associates in 1993, now SAHA, a low-income housing non-profit. He served for nearly a decade on the Berkeley Planning Commission as both commissioner and chair. He was also the chair of the board of Bay Area Community Services (BACS). When he tried to resign as chair, they agreed only if he would take on the role of treasurer (which he did!).

David and Susan traveled extensively and ramped things up after David retired from UC-Berkeley. Notable trips included two months in China, two extended trips to Japan and approximately 25 visits to Israel to see his son Charlie and his family. On their long trips David would go on his own to hike and Susan would stay in the town or city nearby.  David took an epic trip to India in 2010 with a close friend.  Susan and David also went to Korea to visit David’s nephew, Abe Shragge. David travelled to Machu Picchu solo. David and Susan sponsored several family vacations to England where the Israeli and East Coast contingents would meet and spend a week or two together.

David and Susan moved to St. Paul’s Towers in Oakland in November 2015. David continued to enjoy swimming at the nearby Y and walks around Lake Merritt with their dog Kenny, plus singing, art, and chair volleyball. He received excellent care at St. Paul’s in his last years.

David was preceded in death by Jennie Barab Stoloff (mother), Samuel J. Stoloff (father), Elaine (Stoloff) Shragge (sister), Sylvia (Stoloff) Gordon (sister), and Barbara (Reynolds) Stoloff (former spouse).

David is survived by his wife, Susan Klee; three children, Sam, Charlie (Avraham Shimon), and Jennifer; two stepdaughters, Lisa Mihaly and Jessica Mihaly; Judith Gutman Stoloff (former spouse); seven nieces and nephews; eight grandchildren; four step-grandchildren and twenty-five great-grandchildren.

Donations in David’s memory may be made to Bay Area Community Services.

Special thanks to the staff at St. Paul’s, especially the nurses on the 22^nd floor who made David’s last years as comfortable as possible.

We are grateful to David’s nephew, Craig Gordon, who visited David regularly when his children could not.

Finally, Patty St. Louis has the eternal gratitude of David’s family for being his friend, his helper, and one of the most caring people in his life.

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