KOENIGSBERGER

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Sunday, May 09, 2010 at 06:13:41 :

Marin Journal
Thursday, Jan. 10, 1918
Page 5

Friend of Poor Passes Away

Few people in San Rafael knew Ferdinand Koeningsberger, the bent old man who had made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brown on D street for the past five years. He was 89 years old and used a cane.

Once in a while he would walk in the streets or go to a store to buy some little necessity because he didn’t want to bother others to get it for him. And on these walks he would meet some other old man, one who he knew had fared badly in life and who would not feel offended if offered charity, and he would give him money. This was one of his greatest pleasures. An much of his joy came from his belief that no one knew of his little charities. He wasn’t rich. He had a few dollars, just enough, he estimated, to carry him along to the end and indulge meanwhile in this quiet giving.

He had among his possessions a list of names, names of people who at stated times received from the old man little gifts and donations that went far to help out the meager income of a hardworking father or mother of a family of children.

Five years ago he retired from business in San Francisco, where for many years he had been a tobacco merchant. Before that he had spent years in the excitement of a northern California mining town.

Death came to him last Friday, and the arrival of the spectre so much dreaded by the average human was welcomed by Ferdinand Koenigsberger as another phase of life.

Stricken at the Brown residence, he was removed to the Cottage Hospital and passed away quietly the same day. Burial was made in San Francisco.