Civic leader, writer and arts patron ‘very astute’ and ‘always selfless’
Civic leader, author, philanthropist, TV personality, former Chronicle columnist and Nob Hill Gazette Editor Merla Zellerbach died of pancreatic cancer Friday. Mrs. Zellerbach, 84, died at the Presidio Terrace house she had occupied for 60 years.
Born Aug. 27, 1930, a native of San Francisco and daughter of the late Rabbi Elliot and Lottie Burstein, Mrs. Zellerbach had been vice president of the student body at Lowell High School, and studied psychology at Stanford. Married at 19 to Stephen Zellerbach (now deceased), she became involved in philanthropy, first as Queen of the Mardi Gras (a benefit for the Little Jim Club of Children’s Hospital), later volunteering for Planned Parenthood, the American Cancer Society and the Red Cross. She founded SF Sponsors and Conard House, which helps the mentally ill, co-chaired the annual Beaux Arts Ball, and was a board member of the San
“She was not into being ‘Merla,’ she was into being there for others.” Ellen Newman, longtime friend
Francisco Art Institute, Patrons of Art & Music, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She was the Northern California chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s 2012 Champion of Hope; and in 2014, the Junior League honored her for her major impact on philanthropy and volunteerism in the Bay Area.
Mrs. Zellerbach’s first marriage ended in divorce; her second husband was TV and
radio commentator Fred Goerner, who died of cancer in 1994. Four years later, at the home of Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blum, she married former Crown-Zellerbach executive and longtime Civil Service and Library Commissioner Lee Munson.
Thrice-weekly column
Feinstein recalled she “first saw Merla when I was 16 or 15, sitting with my sister on the steps of our house at One Presidio Terrace. And into the Terrace drove this white car with the top down, a convertible, and this beautiful girl with raven hair. Our jaws dropped.” Years later, when the two women met at a dinner in the East Bay in the ’70s, they “became friends from that moment on,” Feinstein said.
In 1961, after her first novel had been published, Chronicle Editor Scott Newhall hired Mrs. Zellerbach to “poke a gentle needle” at San Francisco society in a thrice-weekly column, My Fair City. Enthusiastic response to a story about dating difficulties led to her founding the Singles Organization, a matchmaking social group that lasted 21 years.
In addition to writing a newspaper column, she contributed to magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Prevention, Reader’s Digest, Town & Country and Travel & Leisure. During 50 years as a journalist, she interviewed such personalities as Shirley Temple Black, Yves St. Laurent, Andy Warhol, Feinstein, Bob Hope, Hugh Hefner, Bennett Cerf, Joe Montana and Helen Gurley Brown.
From 1965 to 1970, Mrs. Zellerbach was a panelist on the ABC TV game show, “Oh MyWord.” Although usually reluctant to talk about herself, when a cancer scare resulted in a double mastectomy, she spoke about the surgery publicly, to express support of breast cancer research. She was “a very accomplished woman,” Feinstein said.
Ellen Newman, Mrs. Zellerbach’s friend since they both attended Lowell High School, said, “She was always selfless, always for others. And that’s hard to do when you are an author. ... She was not into being ‘Merla,’ she was into being there for others.”
‘Impish’ humor
Her impeccable manners and fastidious appearance went along with “a very impish sense of humor,” Feinstein said. “She could ask that question in a discussion and you look at her and say, ‘What, why are you asking that?’ ” What she brought to every discussion was “a warm and a great curiosity that I think was a driving force in her.”
After leaving The Chronicle in 1985, Mrs. Zellerbach’s independent writing career took off. Published works included five self-help medical books, “The Type 1 / Type 2 Allergy Relief Program,” “Detox” and three editions of “The Allergy Sourcebook” plus eight novels and six mysteries. In recognition of her literary and civic contributions, then-Mayor Feinstein proclaimed Nov. 2, 1983, as Merla Zellerbach Day in San Francisco; and the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library made her a literary laureate in 2010. She was editor of the Nob Hill Gazette from 1995 to 2007, during which she also wrote its Let’s Dish column that chronicled the San Francisco social scene. “She was very astute about people,” said Feinstein. “She didn’t miss anything, she took it all in.”
The 1975 death of her adored father had been marked by prolonged suffering, to which Mrs. Zellerbach always referred in public endorsements of Compassion & Choices, a national organization that supports end-of-life options. She joined its board in 2007, three years later was honored with its Hugh Gallagher Award “for her courage and dedication to choice and human liberty at the end of life,” and maintained a leadership role in the cause.
She is survived by her husband, brother Sandor Burstein and his wife, Elizabeth, son Gary Zellerbach, daughter-in-law Linda Zellerbach, two grandchildren, Laura and Randy Zellerbach, and three stepchildren, Eric Munson, Gigi Monterrosa, Anna MunsonWoods and their spouses.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances might be directed to Compassion & Choices, 3701 Sacramento St., No. 439, S.F. 94118; Hospice by the Bay, 1902 Van Ness Ave., No. 2, S.F. 94109; or a favorite charity.