A board member of several Jewish agencies who was best known for his work at KPIX, Len Schlosser, died Friday, May 7, in Greenbrae. He was 80.
Schlosser was born in Brooklyn in 1924. He was awarded the Bronze Star as a U.S. Army paratrooper during World War II.
He came to San Francisco in 1968 to work at KPIX as its public affairs director, a position he held until 1989.
Schlosser served on the boards of the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Family and Childrens’ Services, Jewish Vocational Services and a number of non-Jewish charities.
“He was a wonderful board member who was very committed to helping the children and families of our community,” said Anita Friedman, executive director of JFCS. “He worked closely with me in our efforts to elevate and expand our marketing communications program so that more people would know that JFCS was a resource to them when they are in need.”
Through his work at KPIX, he helped initiate the Jewish talk show “Mosaic,” which is still going strong today.
“He helped us come up with the idea for ‘Mosaic’, which was designed to be an interfaith program,” said Rita Semel, who was then executive director of the JCRC. “He shepherded that program and helped sell it to the station.”
After Schlosser retired, he spent 15 years serving as a public information volunteer for various seniors’ agencies in Marin County.
In 1999, he was named Senior of the Year by the Marin County Commission on Aging.
A memorial service for Schlosser will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, June 4, at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, 5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Woodacre.
Schlosser is survived by his daughters, Lisa Thorne of Oakland and Nina Quaranta of Los Angeles; four grandchildren and his former wife, Sylvia Schlosser of Los Angeles.
Donations can be made to the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, P.O. Box 169, Woodacre, CA, 94973, or the Marin County Commission on Aging, 10 N. San Pedro Road, Suite 1012, San Rafael, CA 94903.