Albert H. Heller
Albert Heller Jr. was born the summer of 1917 in a St. Paul home on Summit Avenue just four blocks from the F. Scott Fitzgerald residence where that novelist would pen “This Side of Paradise” two years later.
The first of three children born to Albert and Elsa Heller, Albert became a prodigious reader whose literary tastes spanned writers from Trollope to Proust, James Fenimore Cooper to Rousseau. Music lessons and school work filled Albert’s earliest years and it was in 1935 that he left St. Paul for Harvard University, joining Leonard Bernstein in composition and performance coursework.
At Harvard, possibly influenced by the music of Debussy and Satie, a quiet yearning for the city of lights began to bloom: in one small leather bound volume, he penned his name as “Albert Helere” with appropriately placed accents aigu and grave.
At 26, Albert began his World War II tour of duty in London, visiting Paris for the first time while on leave. French President Charles de Gaulle’s return to the War Ministry and impassioned victory speech from the Hotel de Ville following the Liberation of Paris just two days after Albert’s 27th birthday brought a spirit of jubilant celebration to the city. Albert determined that he would make Paris his home, which he did for nearly twenty years.
Popular classics such as Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge” and Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose” enriched his growing repertoire and Albert quickly became a favored soloist and accompanist in Parisian piano bars. By the time he ventured back to London, a 46 year old Albert was delighting patrons with early Beatles hits.
Inspired by his groundings in classical Greek and Latin, and his fluency in French, Albert founded US&UK Translators, across the street from Victoria Station. US&UK specialized in high quality translations of diplomatic and technical material, always into the translator’s native tongue. Al personally delivered documents to addresses all over London, developing a knowledge of the city second only to that of the famed London cabbies.
In the 1980’s Albert returned to the USA, settling in San Francisco where he embraced the Bay Area’s rich array of cultural offerings and social causes. At the age of 93, he moved to the Carlisle on Post Street, where he never missed a film screening, became active in the French and Book clubs, and forged many valued friendships.
Albert passed away on April 15. He is survived by nieces Evan Scott and Andrea Heller Eknes and by nephews Peter and Andrew Harris. They will miss his punning, one-liners, and etymological musings, his vast knowledge of an astounding range of subjects, and above all, his vibrant spirit.