Norman Coliver
Norman Coliver, born in Baltimore, died at home in San Francisco on June 1st. He would have been 98 in 18 days. The day before he was reading and eating dessert, two of his great joys. He will be remembered as a real character, a true iconoclast.
He was high school class valedictorian, and graduated in 1938 from the University of Virginia Phi Beta Kappa, with honors in Philosophy, for writing on James Joyce's Ulysses.
He enlisted in the army in 1941 and, after completing officer training, served as an intelligence officer under General MacArthur with whom he walked to shore at Lleyte Gulf. In October 1945, Major Coliver witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender documents, which he had been in charge of producing, on board the USS Missouri.
He studied pre-med courses at Harvard and was accepted into Medical School there in 1947, but instead moved to SF to marry Edith Simon. He graduated from Stanford Law School in December 1950 with the Irving Hellman Prize for legal writing. In 1951, the young couple spent six months in Rome, where Norman served as part of a Stanford Research Mission to the Italian government.
Upon his return, he joined the firm of Dinkelspiel & Dinkelspiel, with which he was affiliated for the remainder of his career.
Amongst his many civic involvements, Norman chaired or sat on the boards of the American Red Cross of SF, Hunter's Point Boys Club, Probate Committee of the Bar Association of SF, SF Jewish Community Center, SF Jewish Welfare Federation, Congregation Emanu-El, and Judah Magnes Museum. His abiding interests were life-long education, civil rights, and the history of the Jews of the West.
He is survived by his daughters, Susie Coliver (Robert Herman) of San Francisco and Sandra Coliver (Robert Sullivan) of New York, and his devoted caregivers of the past several years, Temalesi Raturoba, Caroline Timothy, and Joe Niumataiwalu.
Donations may be made in his memory to the Magnes Museum at UC Berkeley, Lehrhaus Judaica, or charity of your choice. The family will receive visitors on Sunday and Monday evenings for shiva minyan. Email for information: sandy.coliver@gmail.com.
At the request of the family, services will be private.