Donald S. Pressman

Donald S. PRESSMAN A long time resident of Mercer Island died on January 18, 2007, after a courageous battle against Parkinson's disease. Born seventy-six years ago in Cynthiana, Kentucky to Joseph and Rose Pressman, Don was educated at the University of Kentucky before serving two years in the United States Navy. While managing his family's department stores throughout Kentucky, Don met and married Shirlee Gaines of Chicago. After the birth of their two children they moved West, first to Los Angeles, then to the Seattle area, where Don became a sales consultant for Standard Textile Company, in charge of the Pacific Northwest Territory for the next twenty years. Over the years they traveled extensively throughout Europe and when Don retired in 1996 they purchased a home in the South of France, which became their haven for several months out of every year. It was a beautiful life of 51 years together. Don was noted for his colorful and gregarious personality. He loved to share the smallest details of his life and interests in lengthy letters to family and friends, in nearly flawless penmanship. But Don was even more engaging in person. He could instantly turn any room into an audience and every member of that audience into a friend for life. He always left his listeners breathless with laughter. Don lived life to the fullest. Besides his beloved Shirlee, Don is survived by two children, Joy Docter (husband, Jonathan), Jonathan Pressman (wife, Sammantha) and grandchildren, Alexandra and Nicholas, John David, and Victoria, all of Seattle. Also survived by brothers, Harold, of Cincinnati , Lawrence, of Los Angeles, and Kenneth, of New York City. Don was given a Military Funeral at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, in Bellevue, Washington on January 23, 2007.