San Francisco trade-show executive Bert Tonkin was a snappy dresser who wasn’t flashy about his considerable generosity.
Tonkin, who died of cancer last Saturday, was a big-hearted contributor of his time and money to the Jewish and general community. He was 76.
Longtime friend William Lowenberg said Tonkin made a difference in this world “without any fanfare.”
Tonkin also had a distinctive sartorial style.
The chairman of S.F.-based Western Exhibitors, Tonkin had a fondness for the color yellow and the bright custom-made shirts and ties of London clothier Turnbull & Asser, said business partner Mike Dean.
“He was a dresser who could rival [Mayor] Willie Brown,” Dean said. “Everything about him was cheerful.
That upbeat demeanor was evident in his professional and personal life.
Tonkin, whose firm is responsible for the San Francisco International Gift Fair and other trade shows around the country, was a philanthropist and board member to many Jewish and civic organizations.
The list of S.F.-based organizations he served includes the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, Congregation Emanu-El, the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Museum, Concordia Argonaut club and the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“He was truly a giving person,” said Phyllis Cook, director of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.
As a board member from 1996 to 2000 at Emanu-El, “the same positive, bright outlook he brought to his life, he brought to anything that came to the temple,” said that synagogue’s Rabbi Stephen Pearce. Tonkin also co-chaired Emanu-El’s recent 150th anniversary celebration.
According to Dean, “He just made you feel you were the most important person in his life. He just cared so much about the right values.”
A native of Portland, Ore., Tonkin had lived in San Francisco since 1953.
Joining the company started by his aunt, he eventually became its chairman. Today, Western Exhibitors holds the twice-annual gift fair at the Moscone Center, which attracts some 1,800 exhibitors and 30,000 retailers. The company holds similar shows in Portland, Seattle, Orlando, and Toronto.
“He was involved up to the last minute,” said Dean. “We’d call him the supreme commander.”
But that business approach didn’t include micro-management of the two dozen employees based at the company’s headquarters on Greenwich Street.
Tonkin carefully selected staff, treated them “like family” and “gave them what had to be done and let them do it,” Dean said.
“How many bosses are absolutely adored by the staff?”
Dean said Tonkin served as an Army Air Force radar operator during World War II. Afterwards he went on to college, graduating from the University of Oregon in 1949.
He later donated almost $1 million to the university’s business school.
In 1997, Tonkin received an award from the American Committee for Sha’are Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem for his philanthropy locally and in Israel. His generosity extended to cancer treatment and research programs as well.
“He was very philanthropic and he helped anybody and everybody,” said his widow, Mary Ann Tonkin.
Diagnosed with stomach cancer 12 years ago and then several years ago with melanoma, Tonkin “called himself the ‘Energizer Bunny’ because he just kept going,” according to Dean.
He often picked up the phone and tried to cheer up people who, like himself, were struggling with cancer.
“He’d hear someone had cancer, a friend or an acquaintance, and just make the call,” said Dean. “He was just that kind of person.”
In addition to his wife, Tonkin is survived by his daughters, Wendy Tonkin Breuner of Kentfield and Jill Tonkin Finegold of Alamo, and six grandchildren.
Contributions in Tonkin’s honor may be sent to the Tonkin Cancer Research Fund for Melanoma, UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, Attn: Megan Knudsvig De Graeve, UCSF Box 0248, S.F. 94143-0248.