Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Sunday, July 01, 2007 at 10:01:35 :
Independent Journal
Thursday, April 20, 1995
Robert Oliver Jr.
Bookstore owner
A memorial service for Robert E. Oliver Jr. will be Sunday at 3 p.m. at Saint Rita's Parish Hall, Fairfax.
Oliver, owner of Oliver's Books in San Anselmo, died April 10 at 42 after a long struggle with melanoma.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen Lanphier; two sons, Thomas and Carroll; his parents, Robert Sr. and Trude Oliver; three sisters, Lauren Oliver, Janet Oliver, and Elizabeth Rhone; and a brother, Richard Oliver.
Memorial contributions may be made to the "Lanphier-Oliver Trust Fund", Account #6440 582666, Wells Fargo Bank, 3 Tunstead Avenue, San Anselmo 94960.
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Independent Journal
Wednesday, April 12, 1995
San Anselmo bookstore owner remembered for optimisn, compassion by Leach Reich, IJ. reporter
Oliver's Books was closed yesterday, but the stunning beauty, compassion and love that have always characterized the San Anselmo shop were reflected on the glass door graced with wreaths and bouquets.
Floral tributes surrounded a sign announcing the death of Robert E. Oliver Jr.
Oliver died at 8:30 a.m. Monday at home after a long struggle with melanoma. He was 42.
"The melanoma was the greatest and most significant hurdle in his life," said his wife, Kathleen Lanphier. "He dealt with it with unflinching and unfailing optimism."
Lanphier hopes Oliver will be remembered as a man who loved the community, a person who "was able to provide a sense of community and, at the same time, receive the love of the community through the bookstore."
"He felt a great deal of satisfaction and pride and completeness as a human, knowing that the community loved him so, and he died knowing that."
San Rafael author Anne Lamott said he was a remarkably warm and compassionate man.
Lamott saw him in March, when she and other authors rallied to his side with a tribute of readings at his shop.
"He was very frail and tired by then, but he looked more beautiful than I'd ever seen him," Lamott said. "He just looked radiant and I think that's probably because of the level of love and support he was finding all around him and the amazing grace that I think he got to experience from his marriage."
Oliver was born in 1952 in San Rafael, grew up in Marin and graduated from Terra Linda High School.
He attended college, became a house painter, traveled and returned to Marin to work with his father in a home medical care firm.
He met Kathleen in 1977. The two married four years later.
"We didn't have children until 1990, so we spent a great deal of time together - just the two of us," Lanphier said.
When Oliver learned he suffered from melanoma in 1987, he decided to pursue a lifelong dream. In 1989, he opened Oliver's Books at 645 San Anselmo Ave., selling used and new books that reflected his unique taste for good writing.
"The bookshop that the Olivers built is like a service to the community," said Elaine Helfond of the neighboring Helfond Book Gallery.
"It's a place where people go and gather. It's a comfortable place. It's a beautiful place. Their customers love them. Other book dealers loved them."
"My hope is that the community reaches out to them in the way that they reached out to the community through their events and their store," said Books and Borders manager Minjae Laws.
Don Paul, who last month helped organize the "The Word at Oliver's" series of readings, said "He eschewed any type of fame and just went about doing what he knew how to do and provided a venue
for other people to do what they love to do."
Poet Stefanie Marlis descrived Oliver as a "friend and a great teacher of how to live your life with joy and spirit."
"He recognized good writing wherever it was," she added.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; two sons, Thomas and Carroll; his parents, Robert Sr. and Trude Olver; three sisters, Lauren Oliver, Janet Oliver and Elizabeth Rhone; and a brother, Richard Oliver.
A memorial service is pending.
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