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| News:
10/15/2009
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George Ellman remembered
There’s not enough room in this entire paper to begin to tell you all the things George Ellman accomplished in his remarkable life, so here are a few reminiscences by people who knew this slightly built, good-natured gentleman who worked tirelessly to promote a healthy environment, sensible transportation, and an ongoing civil discourse that led to good things for our community. His niece, Pam Cain of Pacific Grove, loved her uncle George and aunt Phyllis deeply, caring for him in the four months following Phyllis’ death on June 2 until George’s death from cancer on Sept. 27. Cain lived in Petaluma with her family while her father was in Vietnam, spending lots of time with the Ellmans. She shared being a Girl Scout leader with Phyllis and often sang or played her flute with George, a classically trained musician. “They were environmentalists long before there was an Earth Day. I always joked that they had to move to Sonoma because they had saved everything in Marin,” Cain recalled. “I remember how they told stories together, Phyllis adding things here and there, correcting. I loved hanging out with them.” By trade, George was a biochemist, a very good one by all accounts, who worked in San Francisco for many years while living in Tiburon. He served Tiburon as both councilman and mayor, and helped form the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. Avid birders all their lives, George and Phyllis left part of the proceeds from their Tiburon home to help endow Audubon Canyon Ranch near Bolinas. George was a director of the National Audubon Society, retiring to a standing ovation a few years ago. While working at UC Medical Center in San Francisco, George developed a lifelong passion for public transportation and helped develop a ride share program that ultimately became the Golden Gate Transit System. He served on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Buses were George’s first target for public transportation, but trains were his life’s passion, so much so that his ashes will be on the first SMART train that rolls, according to his niece. George helped organize the vote that founded Sonoma County’s Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District in 1990. “He was on the original advisory committee set up prior to the ballot measure going out to the voters,” Maria Cipriani, Deputy Director of the district said. “He always stayed interested in open space and transportation. He did a phenomenal amount of work in his professional and academic careers and his interests in a variety of issues. It’s definitely a loss of a great member of the community.”  Phyllis and George Ellman George had a great impact on the life of Richard Dale, executive director of the Sonoma Ecology Center. George helped found the organization and served on its board for years. Dale especially remembers George’s penchant for civility. “He could work with somebody who you knew was diametrically opposed to the issue he supported,” Dale recalled. “He called for mutual respect and had a good time. He always did it in a characteristically warm way. You never lost that sense of conviviality. It was an eye-opening lesson. “The noise of people personalizing issues in ways that vilify each other shuts down communication and denies what we’re trying to do. George was high in his regard for how discourse should happen. He would take an interest in us pipsqueaks and coax us on how to work through policy issues. This was valuable not just to me personally, but to the entire community.” Long-time friend and fellow activist Pat Mazzini agrees. “He was such a pleasant guy to be around and work with. He was always very positive.” Mazzini served with George on the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Committee which George and Dale helped set up. She also worked with George on the Glen Ellen Historical Society board. Together, they helped get the main building at Sonoma Developmental Center added to the National Register of Historic Places. George served on the Valley of the Moon Alliance board for five years as another part of his interest in preserving the Sonoma Valley’s rich environmental heritage. He served with fellow Glen Ellen neighbors and friends Steve and Andrea Perry. “One of the most important memories I have of George is knowledge of the determination that people can actually do something by becoming involved” Perry said. “We didn’t always share the same opinion on everything, but we got along. We tilted at a lot of things together, like Graywood Ranch. He went after these things with stubbornness and determination, only exceeded by Phyllis’s version. They did it well together. “He would constantly push to have people involved. He’d say, if I have an opinion, go share it! That’s a great memory I’ll carry forward.” Retired Glen Ellen Fire Chief Bill Murray was also a good friend and saw George frequently, as the Ellmans lived just up the street from the firehouse. “He was a good friend to Sonoma and Marin counties,” he said. “I admired him and thought he had a great deal with the train. Unfortunately, he won’t see it go in, but a lot of it is because of the work he did. He did a lot for the whole community.” A celebration of George’s life will be held on Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Congregational Church, 252 W. Spain St., Sonoma, (707) 996-1328. Donations in his memory can be directed to Friends of SMART, 555 5th Street, Suite 300A, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, or call (707) 578-9133. If you would like to know more about George Ellman’s life, read the articles and obituaries published by the Sonoma Sun and the Sonoma Index-Tribune, which can be found online. He was a remarkable man married to a remarkable woman. “If everybody would do half as much as they did for their communities, we’d live in heaven!” Pat Mazzini said. “They were always working to make things better.” Email: jay@kenwoodpress.com |
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