Remembering
Donald MacAllaster Sanford--A01
(1917-2016)

Don Sanford passed away in Emeryville, CA, not far from his long-time home in Berkeley, early in the morning of 31 May 2016, a month short of his 99th birthday.

Serving as editor of this journal for 16½ years, Don produced 66 consecutive issues of Mac-Alasdair Clan beginning with September 1994 and ending with the December 2010 issue. He then passed the baton to me, and I now have a full appreciation of the magnitude of Don’s incredible contribution that I didn’t possess in 2011. In that Sep 1994 edition, Don described how he took on that responsibility when he learned that Della Guise was stepping down from the job. After thinking it over, and discussing it with his beloved wife Rosie, he “wrote a note to Paul Towry offering to take on the task and had an immediate phone call telling me that I was selected (from a field of one). I feel that if you are going to ride in the boat, you ought to take a turn at the oars.” And he kept rowing for 16½ years.

Don wanted neither an obituary nor a memorial service, and we will largely respect his wishes. However, after receiving from Don’s nephew David Fujikawa a timeline of his life that Don had written in 2003, I could not resist putting together a brief biographical sketch.

Don was born on 2 July 1917 in Minneapolis, MN to Leland Lloyd and Rachel Mae Riddle Sanford. After graduating from Minneapolis Central High School in June 1935, Don enrolled at the University of Minnesota. Working his way through college at Minneapolis’ old Hotel Vendome, he graduated with a degree in public administration in June 1941 and promptly volunteered for naval flight school. Although he did not become a pilot, Don served on active duty as a naval officer until his discharge in early 1946. He immediately enrolled in UC Berkeley’s graduate school of public administration and took a job with the Contra Costa County, CA, Department of Public Social Service, serving there for 19 years before taking similar positions in Marin County where he worked another 12 years.

His first wife, Louise Loevinger, with whom he had three daughters, passed away in 1959. Don subsequently married Rosie Chizuko Fujikawa in 1967 and lost her in 2006. They had one son.

Hal McAlister, Editor