Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 05:53:34 :
Marin Independent Journal
Tuesday, January 11, 1994
Section B, page 2
Gordon Weld Strawbridge, 93; ex-mayor of Mill Valley, Tiburon
Memorial services are set for Gordon Weld Strawbridge, former mayor of both Mill Valley and Tiburon.
Strawbridge, a longtime Mill Valley and Sausalito businessman, died at home in Tiburon on Jan. 7. He was 93.
Mr. Strawbridge, who often sported a bow tie and smoked a pipe, was Tiburon’s first mayor, wielding the newly incorporated town’s gavel in 1964. He came to the job with experience, having served as Mill Valley’s mayor from 1952 to 1954.
Strawbridge thought he had retired from politics when he was urged to lend a hand to Tiburon’s new government. He used his pipe as a gavel until the town bought one.
He was one of Marin’s early environmentalists, urging protection of the waterfront, retaining Tiburon’s residential atmosphere, and avoiding a “carnival-honky-tonk atmosphere” on Main Street.
Mr. Strawbridge was an avid hiker and a steadfast supporter of preserving Tiburon’s open space. He made annual donations to the town’s open-space-acquisition fund.
After stepping down from the Town Council in 1968, Strawbridge remained active in community affairs. He was a leader in the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, the Marin Audubon Society, the Marin Conservation League and the San Francisco Yacht Club.
In 1974, he was named Marin’s “Outstanding Senior Citizen.”
“He really was an outstanding person. Quietly, in his own way, he got things done. He was just a gentleman, an exceptional guy,” said Tiburon Town Manager Robert Kleinert.
Mr. Strawbridge was born in Germantown, Pa.
He graduated from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and attended Harvard Business School. In the 1930s, he moved to Palo Alto, where he opened a book store.
He joined the Coast Guard Reserve during World War II.
After the war, he moved to Marin County and opened a camera and stationary store, Strawbridges, In Mill Valley. He also opened a small printing plant, The Marin Printer, in Mill Valley. The business moved to Sausalito and later became Graphic Arts of Marin.
Mr. Strawbridge enjoyed sailing. He was the commodore of the Palo Alto Yacht Club and in 1948 commodore of the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere.
He is survived by two daughters, Sally S. Magneson of Ballico, Merced County, and Daphne S. Steward of Bainbridge Island, Wash.; a son, Roger C. Strawbridge of Belvedere; 12 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Mill Valley Community Church, 8 Olive St., Mill Valley.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, Marin Conservation League and the Richardson Bay Audubon Society.
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