Maurice Joseph Fitzgerald

1928 - 2023

Maurice Joseph
Fitzgerald
December 8, 1928 - March 9, 2023
Maurice Joseph Fitzgerald was born on December 8, 1928, the son of Maurice and Bridie Fitzgerald (nee McCarthy). A native San Franciscan, Maurice was born at home on Sussex Street in Glen Park before the family moved to Foote Avenue. During War World II, he raised chickens and sold eggs, (rationed at the time), to his neighbors, before getting a job at Weinstein's Department Store at the age of 16.
In the early 1940s, Maurice and his father, a machinist for the City of San Francisco, spent weekends building a cabin in La Honda, thus beginning a lifetime love of construction.
Maurice attended Balboa High School and the University of San Francisco. He served as a lieutenant in the Korean War where he was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement in a combat zone. He left the Army having achieved the rank of captain and then earned a master's degree at Stanford University and later his doctorate degree at the University of Southern California.
In the fall of the 1959, Maurice met the love of his life, his dentist's daughter, Alana Branick, herself a practicing dentist. They were married three months later, a marriage that lasted 63 years. They had six children, John, Mary, Maurice Jr., Alana Jr., Vincent, and Brian who they raised in the home Maurice built in Hillsborough.
For thirty-one years, Maurice taught English at the College of San Mateo and in 1971 he successfully led the Don't Shut Colleges Campaign to keep all three college campuses in the San Mateo open. He was also the Executive Secretary of the Cemetery Workers Local 265.
A member of the St. Francis Yacht Club, Maurice spent weekends sailing and racing sailboats on the San Francisco Bay. He and Alana enjoyed countless summers at the Yacht Club's outstation at Tinsley Island spending time with lifelong friends.
Upon his retirement he became a full-time grandfather to Jack Downs, Molly Downs, Ann Fitzgerald, John Fitzgerald, Jr., Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Joseph Fitzgerald, Olivia Fitzgerald, Connor Fitzgerald, and Blake Fitzgerald. We will all miss him dearly.
He will be waked at Crosby-N. Gray & Co. Funeral Home at 2 Park Road, in Burlingame on March 14th at 5:00 PM. Funeral services will be private.