Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Friday, December 06, 2013 at 05:57:25 :
Marin Independent Journal
26 Sept. 2004
Edward Galland Zelinsky
January 1, 1922 ~ September 23, 2004.
A fifth-generation San Franciscan, Edward Galland Zelinsky passed away peacefully of pancreatic cancer on September 23rd, 2004. Owner of Main Street Properties in Tiburon, he was active in real estate and property management in San Francisco and other Bay Area communities. He was the owner of the Musée Mécanique in San Francisco, one of the largest private collections of coin-operated mechanical art in the world. Together with his wife Laleh, he co-founded the Tiburon Children's Film Festival. He was also founder of the Museum of the City of San Francisco and active in various civic causes including the San Francisco County Fair, San Francisco Film Festival, National Maritime Museum Association, California Historical Society, and the Tiburon Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.
As an ardent maritime-history enthusiast, his interest in old sailing ships began with the restoration of the Balclutha in 1954 and continued with his efforts to save the historic landmark vessel S.S. Wapama and also the Vicar of Bray. He received the American Ship Trust award for distinguished service in 1995 and will be honored posthumously with the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association's Maritime Heritage Award on October 14. He served as a Trustee of the World Ship Trust of London, England.
He is survived by his beloved wife Laleh S. Zelinsky; his loving daughter, Miriam Davina G. Zelinsky; his devoted sister Barbara Z. Abrams of Belvedere; two children from a previous marriage, Dale Z. Jewell of Sebastapool and Daniel Zelinsky of Mill Valley; and four grandchildren.
A Memorial Service will be held in his memory on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at 10 a.m. at the Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake Street (at the corner of Lake and Arguello), San Francisco.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to:
C. P. M. C. Foundation
In Memory of Edward G. Zelinsky
Pancreatic Cancer Research
P.O. Box 45234
San Francisco, CA 94145
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San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, September 25, 2004
B6
Edward Zelinsky -- philanthropist, Musee owner
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
Edward Galland Zelinsky, a wealthy San Francisco philanthropist and historian who owned the famous Musee Mecanique, died of pancreatic cancer Thursday at California Pacific Medical Center. He was 82.
Mr. Zelinsky was a one-of-a-kind individual whose interests ranged from downtown Tiburon, where his real estate firm owned much of Main Street, to the Musee Mecanique in San Francisco, where the centerpiece is Laughing Sal, a mechanical woman who once graced the old Playland-at-the-Beach.
Mr. Zelinsky was an able businessman and former president of D. Zelinsky & Sons Inc., one of the largest painting contractors in the Bay Area. He also developed Main Street Properties from the days when Tiburon was a railroad town with a funky main drag. Main Street now is lined with fashionable shops and restaurants.
Mr. Zelinsky had a particular fondness for history -- his family came to California before the Gold Rush of 1849 -- and for collecting mechanical amusement devices. He was a member of the Society of California Pioneers and a life member of the Society of American Magicians.
"He was interested in everything,'' said Terry Koenig, a marketing consultant who knew Mr. Zelinsky for years.
"He had a wonderful sense of the history of San Francisco," said Gladys Hansen, one of San Francisco's premier historians. She and Mr. Zelinsky co-founded the Museum of the City of San Francisco. "He always had a smile, and he was always encouraging. He will always be remembered."
Mr. Zelinsky was born in San Francisco on New Year's Day 1922. He was educated in local schools and at the University of Oregon and served during World War II as an officer on a transport ship in the South Pacific.
He came by his interest in ships naturally. One of his ancestors was skipper of a steamboat sailing on the upper Sacramento River in the days when Red Bluff, in Tehama County, was the head of navigation.
He remained an admirer of old ships all of his life. He was active in the restoration of the sailing vessel Balclutha in 1954, was a trustee of the San Francisco National Maritime Park Association and was a vice president of the London-based World Ship Trust.
He received the World Ship Trust Award for distinguished service in 1995 and was to have received a Maritime Heritage Award from the Maritime Park Association next month. The award will be presented posthumously.
In 1997, much to his delight, one of the Blue and Gold Fleet ferryboats was named Zelinsky in his honor.
Mr. Zelinsky also was interested in film and books. At the time of his death, he was producing a documentary about San Francisco from 1864 until the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. He and his wife, Laleh, founded the Tiburon Children's Film Festival, which benefited the pediatric unit of Marin General Hospital. He wrote a book about Sacramento River steamers and was working on a history of early California when he died.
He was an unassuming man, and many people were surprised by his passion for coin-operated mechanical devices. He had a huge collection of such machines -- player pianos, machines that played baseball, told fortunes, played razzmatazz tunes on a piano, played marches on snare drums, or gave peeks into the secret lives of belly dancers.
Mr. Zelinsky began collecting coin-operated machines when he was 11; eventually, he had one of the largest collections in the world. His Pacific Heights home and his Tiburon office were full of them; the best he displayed at the Musee Mecanique, first at San Francisco's Cliff House and later at Pier 45 at Fisherman's Wharf.
Mr. Zelinsky loved tinkering with the machines himself. He liked them all but was most proud of the world's only steam-powered motorcycle, which he obtained in a trade with George K. Whitney, impresario of Playland-at-the- Beach and other old-time San Francisco attractions.
When Playland closed, Mr. Zelinsky bought Laughing Sal, a mannequin whose peals of mechanical laughter sounded for years over the entrance to the Fun House at Playland. Earlier this year, when the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk purchased a Laughing Sal similar to Mr. Zelinsky's, he wrote the newspapers to assert gently that his gal Sal was the true original.
Mr. Zelinsky is survived by his wife, Laleh, of the family home in San Francisco; a son, Daniel Zelinsky of Mill Valley; daughters Miriam Davina Zelinsky of San Francisco and Dale Jewell of Sebastopol; a sister, Barbara Abrams of Belvedere; and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., San Francisco.
The family prefers contributions to CMPC Foundation, Pancreatic Cancer Research, P.O. Box 45234, San Francisco, CA 94115.
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