Herbert Williams

Herbert Williams Jan 18, 1915 - Jan. 14, 2010 Herb Williams died peacefully on January 14, 2010 at Chaparral House in Berkeley where he lived with his wife, Joyce Williams. He spent his last few weeks surrounded by his family. Herb was born in New York. As a young man he had a brief career as a writer and photographer with Time Life. No matter what else he was doing, Herb was always an advocate for human rights. At the age of 50 he went back to school to receive a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University. He then had a career as a health planner and policy analyst until 1981. After retiring, he was involved in a number of boards and committees relating to health policy, including the Over Sixty Clinic in Oakland. He was healthy and active until a very advanced age, playing tennis (doubles) until age 89 and hiking the trails of Mt. Tamalpais and the East Bay hills until he was 90. Herb was fortunate in his large and devoted family. He is survived by Joyce, his wife of almost 71 years. They met in Penn Station in New York City in 1937 and have barely been apart since then; their devotion to each other was legendary. Herb is also survived by his daughters Ellen Matthews and Carla Dalton, as well as his sons-in-law, Isaac Turiel and Peter Dalton. He had four loving grandchildren: Erica Matthews, Janie Dalton, Rachel Turiel, and Jacob Dalton. In addition, he had seven great grand children with whom he was very affectionate and playful right up to the end. Herb is hugely missed. The family would like to thank the caring staff at Chaparral House and Pathways Hospice for their support and to request that any donations in his name be made to organizations that would benefit the Haitian people, such as the Haitian Health Foundation (HaitianHealthFoundation.org), Avaaz (www.avaaz.org), or (doctorswithoutborders.org)