Mary Winer Katz
Mary Winer Katz, born in Brockton, Massachusetts, December 30, 1912, passed away June 4, 2010 with family by her side. Mary was the daughter of Edith and Samuel Winer and for 66 years the beloved wife of the late Rueben Katz. She will be remembered with love by her son Paul Katz (Linda Brodt), her daughter Susan Golovin (Jonathan Golovin), her grandsons Joshua (Annmarie Golovin) and David Golovin and her surviving sibling, Murray Winer.
It was appropriate that Mary was the fourth of six children because she truly was the center of her family’s life. She was the one who took out loans so she could send money to family members in need, the one who took in her nieces and nephews as required, the one who sent care packages home to her brothers, the one who lovingly cared for her parents as they aged. Mary worked hard all her life. With her logical, clear mind, she was a superb organizer and she relished doing the accounting for her husband’s shoe business.
Mary was an honest, practical, no-nonsense person with great common sense. If you asked her opinion, you got it, and people sought her advice. Although she lived in Brockton all her life and rarely traveled beyond the borders of Massachusetts, Mary was deeply interested in what was going on in the world and was known for her keen observations. She was fun to be with, and as she aged she enjoyed the regular visits not only from her immediate family but also from her special nieces Nancy Fisher and Emely Weissman.
True thanks to the staff at Orchard Cove (arm of Hebrew Senior Life) for their extraordinary care as well as to Mary’s incomparable caregiver Joanne Gilkes.
The family requests that donations in Mary’s memory be sent to Hebrew Senior Life Development and Community Relations Department, 1200 Centre St., Boston, MA 02131.
David Libicki passed away on Saturday June 12, 2010. David was the much-loved husband of Ester, father of Stuart and Patty (deceased 2007), and grandfather of Shaun Samson and Eric, Lisa and Susan Libicki. He was also a friend to many in the community.
David was born September 1, 1920 in Krzepice, Poland, the sixth of seven children.
On his 19th birthday, then living in Czestochowa, World War II began when Germany crossed the border into Poland. David was sent to the Hasag-Pelzari concentration camp where he spent most of the war. He was liberated at Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945, but as with many others, lost almost all of his immediate family in the war.
Shortly afterward, a relative introduced David to Ester Libicki, and they married on August 5, 1947. In 1949, four years to the day after his liberation, their first child, Stuart, was born. The family arrived in America in April 1951. David spent the next eight years in the Bronx, New York, learning different trades by day and selling all sorts of merchandise by evening. Patty was born in 1955.
In the summer of 1959 the family moved to San Francisco to start a restaurant business with relatives. The M & M Cafe, located at 315 Market Street, opened its doors in 1960. The next year the family moved to the Sunset District.
David rarely left San Francisco since that time. When he wasn’t working six or seven days per week, he could be found riding the N Judah in the early hours of the morning going to and coming home from work, which was a labor he loved. The business flourished for 25 years until it was sold in 1985. He continued working at the M & M until surgery forced retirement upon him in 1988.
Thereafter he devoted himself to his extended family, the Jewish community. Using his razor-sharp mind, David’s passion turned to successfully assisting numerous Holocaust survivors in obtaining restitution from Germany. From time to time he was mistaken for a professor, when in reality he had only a grade-school education. In another time, he might well have been the most tenacious of lawyers.
He became an active member, and participated in the resurgence, of Temple Adath Israel, where he enjoyed frequently conducting services.
No one worked or fought harder. He always did everything his way, or, as he put it, the right way. It would be easier to reverse the direction of time than convince David to change his views on almost anything. He was as generous as anyone with his family. David was one of a kind, and there will never be another like him. He was a survivor and will forever continue to survive in the hearts and minds of his family.
Oscar “Bud” Taylor
Bud passed peacefully surrounded by his loving family at Stanford Hospital on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at the age of 86. He was born on March 13, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey. Raised in New York during his early life, he entered the service during World War II and served in Persia as a flight engineer in the Army. When he returned to the States he met his life partner Gladys Soroka. After they married in June 1948, they followed her parents to California and settled in San Francisco. They had three sons, Scott, Rick and Ken.
Over the course of his lifetime, he founded and operated many businesses, including Taylor Sales, Inc. and LCO Enterprises. He grew Taylor Sales into a very successful family business that distributed candy and cookies throughout Northern California. That company evolved into LCO Enterprises and Gold Star/Crowne, which was the forerunner to a very large transportation and distribution company known as GSC Logistics.
After retiring in the early 1990s, Bud and Gladys enjoyed living in Sun City West, AZ during the winter and Los Altos, CA during the summer months. He was very active in Arizona in many different senior activities. He became a self-taught computer guru, investment maven, and “semi-professional” poker player.
They lived a very full life together until Gladys passed away in October 2008. He continued a very active life style and lived life to its fullest.
He is survived by his three sons, Scott Elliot, Richard Alan, and Kenneth Wayne, and their wives, Carol, Scherrie, and Linda. He adored his five “wonderful” grandchildren, Brandon, Justin and his wife Veronica, Kimberlee, and Nicholas. He also had the pleasure of being great-grandfather to Nathan. In addition, he will be greatly missed by his nephews and nieces, Mike Mason, Steve and Kathy Mason, and Toni and Craig Horn.
Funeral services were held at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park, Colma. In lieu of flowers, donations to remember Bud can be made to Temple Beth Jacob in Redwood City or the American Heart Association.
Sinai Memorial Chapel
Walter R. Tick
In San Francisco on May 5, 2010. Devoted husband of 50 years to Anne Voorsanger Tick, father of David and Daniel, grandfather of Michael, Katie, Matthew, Ethan, Grace and Bridget, uncle of Tani, Gayne, Dika, and Naomi Barlow. Walter was a veteran of WWII and a resident of San Francisco since 1947. He practiced as a CPA for over 40 years and served as president of Accountants in the Public Interest. Walter attended the Fromm Institute at USF and was an avid photographer.
Donations in Walter’s memory may be directed to the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at USF, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA, 94117, or the New Israel Fund, 1101 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20005.
Sinai Memorial Chapel