GERALD OLMSTED

Gerald W. Olmsted Died at his Berkeley home April 25, 2012 after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. He was truly a Renaissance man: author, mapmaker, traveler, craftsman, engineer and tree hugger. Jerry and his beloved twin brother, Richard, were born October 31, 1930, in Hollywood, to Franklin and Geraldine Olmsted, where they joined their nine year old sibling, Franklin. After their mother died in 1944, the family moved to Auburn, CA, where the twins graduated from Placer High School. After completing an Engineering degree at Stanford University, Jerry married his life long love Barney (Frances Barnett). The couple moved to Schenectady, NY, where he took a job with General Electric, and their oldest son, Daniel was born in 1954. Suzanne and Richard were born (1956 and 1960) in Palo Alto, where the family then lived. During the 1960s and 70s, Jerry worked at cutting edge firms in the emerging Silicon Valley including Ampex and Spectra-Physics. In 1980 Jerry changed careers, writing a series of travel books laced with history including Fielding's Lewis and Clark Trail, The Best of The Pacific Coast, and The Best of The Sierra Nevada. A life long passion for hiking led him to start Olmsted & Bros. Map Co., selling more than 100,000 maps of the hiking trails around the Bay Area including A Rambler's Guide to The Trails of Mt. Tamalpais. During those years, Barney and Jerry traveled widely visiting places like Tanzania, Turkey, Ethiopia and Tibet, as well as Europe, South America and across the U.S. He always preferred the slow route: by train, ferry or by foot. All this while the family was growing - Dan married Kathy; Suzanne had two boys, Gerald and James; and Rich married Evelyn and they added daughter Madeline. His best time was spent in the Sierra, with his family at their Rainbow cabin, skiing, hiking and swimming. Above all Jerry loved his family, the mountains, the Opera, and Rainbow. He will be missed by his many friends, and a close family. After a private burial there will be a gathering of family and friends to remember his rich life, which will be held later. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Sierra Watch or Trust for Public Land would be appreciated.