Virginia Platt Friedman

March 11, 1918 - September 8, 2015

Virginia Platt Friedman, née Hamerslag, of Hillsborough, California died at her home on September 8, 2015, at the age of 97, surrounded by loved ones. A proud native San Franciscan, Virginia was born in 1918 to Jay Platt and Nancy Levy Hamerslag. Virginia was a 1935 graduate of Galileo High School in San Francisco and a 1939 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in history and met her future husband, Nathan Jay Friedman, at a dance at her beloved college residence, International House.

After graduation from college, Virginia married Nathan Jay, a graduate of City College and a New Yorker. They raised three children, Robert Friedman, John Friedman, and Diane Brett and lived together joyfully until Nathan Jay’s death in 2000.

Virginia was a life-long supporter of UC Berkeley, and loved taking her family to Cal Camp, where this otherwise elegant woman roughed it in order to instill the Cal spirit in her offspring. A homemaker while her children were growing up, Virginia subsequently worked as a teacher and a travel agent. She volunteered as a host for international visitors to San Francisco as well as a helper to new readers in the public schools. She loved to dance, was an avid and faithful pen-pal to friends around the world, played golf and tennis into her 80”s, and was a fierce ping pong and bridge player into her 90’s. She was also an adventurer and intrepid traveler, visiting every continent except for Antartica. In order to share her love of travel, Virginia started the tradition of “grandmother” trips, in which she took one or two of her grandchildren at a time on an adventure somewhere in the world. She also arranged trips for her entire extended family. Virginia was a superb party hostess and was well known for her stylish celebrations.

Virginia was known for her love of family, her zest for new experiences, and for the beauty she created around her. Her enthusiastic embrace of the world has touched everyone who knew her. She is survived by her children, eleven grandchildren, eleven greatgrandchildren, a large and loving extended family, her long-term care takers and many friends.

Services were held on Friday, September 11, 2015 at Home of Peace Cemetery, Colma.