James William Hodgen

Known by his close friends as “Hodge,” Jim left us on June 29 after a brief illness. Born in Palo Alto on August 26, 1942 he built a career as an exceptional elementary teacher in Death Valley and high school teacher in San Francisco, and literary editor and critic of singular sensitivity and perception. He left a legacy of abiding interests in art, music, literature and drama, shared with his beloved adopted niece and nephews Kate and Jimmy Swinnerton, and Dwight, Matthew and Samuel Cochran.

As a teenager he attended Palo Alto High School where he developed his remarkable knowledge of botany and biology. He continued to build upon both at U.C. Berkeley and Southern Oregon College. Throughout his adult life he shared his contagious laughter and friendship with close friends at Fallen Leaf Lake and the Bohemian Grove, and also at “Genétines” in the Loire. For many years he worked in restoration and framing with well-known peninsula gallery owner Herbert J. Dengler, about whom he did a colorful oral history in Portola Valley with his close friend Dennis Bark in November 2016.

Of his unusual gifts, intellectual and personal, his commitment to art and good taste and his sense of humor, leave an inheritance from a kind and gentle man shared by many with admiration, affection and respect. An informal and private reception was held in his honor in early July at his favorite intellectual “watering hole,” Bloom’s Saloon, on Potrero Hill.