Josh Michael Salans

In a rich and varied life Josh Salans had a career in computer programming, became deeply engaged in environmental renewal, raised two wonderful daughters and pursued enthusiasms for music and sports.

Josh Michael Salans was born May 29,1957 in San Francisco to Dr Harvey and Sally Salans.

He was later a resident of Sunnyvale and San Jose, where on June 7 he succumbed to a fatal heart attack.

The only boy in a bevy of sisters, Josh was treated to baseball games, football games and golf by his doting father. It helped that Josh was a natural athlete. He played Number One on the George Washington High School golf team and finished second in the San Francisco City Golf Championship. He was to embrace the game for the rest of his life.

College held little appeal for Josh, and he went to work as a fast food chain manager and bartender before finally earning a BA in Business/Computer Science from SF State University. In 1980, Hewlett Packard hired him as a programmer and, later, instructor. After 11 years he left the company to start his own. CTC Solutions provided data analysis and informational report development for the business community.

But increasingly, Josh grew less interested in the silicon chip and more in the very fundament of Silicon Valley itself -- its dirt.

In 2004 he spearheaded the first community garden program in the region. Non-profit Sustainable Community Gardens and later Charles Street Gardens were set up in downtown Sunnyvale and worked by volunteers to provide local, sustainable food systems throughout the Valley.

In 2007 the organization leased an 11-acre parcel of land from the Santa Clara Unified School District to run Full Circle Farm, a project dedicated to serving and educating students and their families about the values of urban farming.

Writing about a threeacre polyculture orchard on the farm, Josh said, “We are bringing ‘Valley of Hearts Delight’ back to our soils!”

But that wasn’t to be Josh’s only “first ever.” In 1997 he appeared behind the wheel of what was then called a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle. Twenty years later, Priuses were everywhere.

And on his golfing feet? Long before most people had heard of them, Josh began wearing Five-Finger minimalist shoes. “He showed up at the Olympic Club barefooted!” recalled a horrified longtime friend, Ford Shacklett.

To support his caprices -- and his family -- Josh returned to data analysis as a consultant and as Senior Analyst for Colliers International. He planned to retire this summer.

Josh Salans was a ‘first’ kind of guy, temperamental, head-strong and a man of great passion.

He was a musician, taking up the drums later in life, a music lover and a showstopping dancer.

He loved jazz and was devoted to the folks at The Tabard Theatre Company in San Jose, where his actor/ director daughter Jessica had performed and where he donated his bar-tending services to hear great live music.

Daughter Emily, who was captain of her high school dance team and danced for professional companies in Los Angeles and Chicago, says she took her inspiration from her father.

Some march to the beat of their own drum. Josh swung to his.

He leaves his two daughters, Emily Salans (Jonathan Maendel), who is a nurse and instructor of nursing in Chicago; Jessica Salans, an artist and community organizer in Los Angeles; former wife, Tammy Harvey; 3 sisters, Cindy Salans Rosenheim (Dan Rosenheim), Molly Salans, Hillary Kambour (Michael). Donations may be made either to The Tabard Theatre Co., https://www. tabardtheatre.org/donations/,418.679.2330 or to the Center for Spiritual Living, https://cslsj.org/ contribute/