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1943 - 2016

BORN

1943

DIED

2016

FUNERAL HOME

Duggan's Serra Mortuary - Daly City

500 Westlake Avenue

Daly City, California

Richard Wiener Obituary

Name: Visitation for Richard Wiener
Start: 2016-01-17T20:00:00.000Z
Location: Duggan's Serra Mortuary - Daly City

Richard Wiener

July 4, 1943 - January 13, 2016

Richie Wiener died peacefully at his home on January 13th after a brave battle with lung cancer. No-one who met Richie ever forgot him. He combined all the energy and impatience of his native New York with the bright sunshine of California, which he made his home 45 years ago. Technically too late for the Summer of Love, he still embodied it in spirit, not to mention waist-length hair.
In 1977 Richie became one of the original stock holders of the San Francisco Yellow Cab Co-op, where he worked with explosive vivacity first as a driver, then manager, then operations manager and finally president.
Everyone in the taxicab business in San Francisco knew Richie. He had an encyclopedic memory for those he worked with, and could accurately quote their driver ID numbers during chance encounters decades later. What he called his Â'United Nations workplace' brought him real joy, and in all his years with Yellow Cab he did not take a single sick day.
But the taxi business was not his only passion. He was a keen hiker and Sierra Club member; an excellent bass guitar player and an avid season ticket holder at Davies Symphony Hall, joking that he could remember Michael Tilson Thomas when he still had training wheels on his baton.
Since 2003, when he met his Scottish wife Gillian on a cruise ship, travel became one of his great pleasures, and Antarctica remained the only continent that they did not visit as a couple. Richie is survived by his beloved wife Gillian, dear sister Marsha, cherished daughters Daisy and Thea, and his much adored grand-daughter Lily.
A visitation will begin Sunday January 17th at noon at Duggan's Serra Mortuary, 500 Westlake Ave., Daly City. A memorial service will be held at 1 pm.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Cancer Research Institute, 55 Broadway, New York.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by San Francisco Chronicle from Jan. 15 to Jan. 16, 2016.

Memories and Condolences
for Richard Wiener

Sponsored by Duggan's Serra Mortuary - Daly City.

14 Entries

Maria

January 14, 2024

My pic was send by mistake and I can't take it out , but I say Cheers to my dear boss Richie in HEAVEN .

Maria

January 9, 2023

Beautiful soul , my boss at yellow cab co .Richie always will be missed.
Driver 2124

nick toy

March 10, 2016

I helped Richie with his home financing a couple of years ago. Just found out from a yellow cab driver as to what happened. Richie was such a nice guy to everyone in our banking center and his enthusiasm and personality were larger than life every time we interacted. RIP Richie

Bob Hill

January 26, 2016

I met Richie driving when Yellow hit the street in '78, and bought a share at Yellow so I could get a decent shift. He was 494, I was 616 for 5 years that are engraved in my heart. I enjoyed his company from the first, though I suggested that former New York drivers should be fed tranquilizers so that the rest of us compete. While I had run-ins with Yellow management, and Richie was sometimes my adversary, I always considered him a friend. When my bad habits were getting the worst of me, he brought me in and showed genuine concern, instead of reading the riot act. I had been trying to have lunch with him on my rare visits to the City in the last twenty years. As usual, I waited too long. His intelligence showed in his sometimes blistering wit - but I always had it coming, and it generally made me made laugh. I never felt from him the contempt endemic among taxi bosses. He was a rare and unique man, a man of energy and action. I cried when I heard the news; and my heart goes out to his loved ones, and I am so happy to read that he had that support. I am lucky enough to have a similar family that i don't deserve, and a world of fatal habits that I have been spared, and I wish I could have shared all that with him. To tell the truth, I cursed a blue streak through my tears to have missed that lunch, and that chance to have built a closer friendship.

Ingrid Wishniff

January 20, 2016

We will miss you Richie. There will never be another you. All my love to Gillian

January 19, 2016

Awww...Richie was my boss for 8 years at Yellow cab..so funny i used to tease on him sometimes..He was a great man. All drivers will miss him forever .He was an icone at the company .
.Maria - driver 2124

Maria Capucho

January 19, 2016

Awwww ..he was my boss for 8 years at Yellow cab...so nice , smart man..I will always have you in my heart Richie ..RIP my friend .

Karuna Kreps

January 17, 2016

So sorry to hear of his passing. I knew Ritchie as Rama, in his young days as a long haired hippie in New York. We met in the Integral Yoga Institute, where he stood out for his high energy and cheerful demeanor.

Craig Simpson

January 17, 2016

As a longtime member of the yellow cab co-op, richie and i have been friends for about 38 years.i knew the true richie beneaththe yellow cab crust. When he told me that his illness was terminal, i told himif he needed anything, i was there. His reply was that Gill is taking great care of me.the look in his eyes showed how much he loved you. I will truly miss him and think of him daily. My condolences to you and the family.you gave him an incredible amount of happiness. Craig Simpson, yellow cab 701

Kenneth Wolman

January 17, 2016

I am most sorry for the loss. He was a good guy. I wish I'd been closer to him over the years, and kept up the acquaintance.

Gene Rankin

January 17, 2016

Richie was a one of my best friends when I lived in New York in the 60s. I have been bugging him for years to come to one of the annual reunions of Washington Square folkies. He will be missed.

Janis Olson

January 16, 2016

Dear Gillian Our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to you.

Richie was such a very sweet man. He will be dearly missed by everyone who knew him.

May all of the wonderful memories you shared help you through this difficult time.

Please know that you can call upon us for anything. Love, Janis, Victoria & Jackson

Helfand

January 16, 2016

Dear Gillian,
I am so sorry to hear about your husband. Even though I had only met him once, I am sure that he appreciated and was fortunate to have you be there for him through this difficult time. I also remember you telling me about the lovely cruises that you both shared, and how you met.
You have my sincerest condolences,
Arlene Helfand (Mission Bay water class).

John Cepelak

January 16, 2016

Worked with Richie for 17 years and he always treated me well, tried to make my job as easy and advantageous to me as possible. he had an East Coast laugh that made irony enjoyable for all around, if you were the butt of his jokes, and genuinely sympathetic of there was a problem.
My deepest sympathies to his family at this time of loss.
Cab 558 (night shift)

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