Adrian D. McNamara Jr.

McNAMARA, Adrian D., Jr. - Passed away peacefully at his Burlingame home on April 17, after an illness of several months, with his entire family present. Born in Oakland, in 1931, he founded and built the A.D. McNamara Company, Inc., a leading food brokerage firm in the Bay Area while simultaneously pursuing a singing career as a principal tenor with the Lamplighters from 1956 to 1968. Singing was his passion, and it also helped carry his family through his initial years in the food industry. He began singing with John Falls, performing with him in the Woodminister Amphitheater under the Oakland Light Opera Association. His subsequent career included stints with the San Francisco Opera Chorus (1954-1956, 1999), Cosmopolitan Opera Company, Berkeley Opera Theater, Company of the Golden Hind, and as a soloist in churches including Old St. Mary's and in the synagogues Beth Israel, Beth Sholom and Temple Emanu-el. While with the Lamplighters, he sang all the Gilbert and Sullivan lead tenor roles, six of which he sang in two to four separate productions, as well as the role of Eisenstein in Strauss' Die Fledermaus and the Lover in Menotti's Amelia goes to the Ball." A man of unfailing and infectious humor, his performing colleagues remember his captivating smile and his constant sharing of a good joke. Dedicated to the Lamplighters, he was its president from 1966-1970 during which time he oversaw the company's move from the Harding Theater on Divisadero St. to the Presentation Theater, its home from 1968-1995. He was a trustee from 1965-1973 and an honorary trustee thereafter. His career in the food industry began when, at the age of 13 during the war years, he worked at the Safeway Stores' main facilities in Oakland. His strong work ethic lead him to become a head corporate buyer. From Safeway, he went to Purity Stores, then become a food broker which lead him to join the firm of E.A. Durell Co. He founded his own brokerage firm in 1980, the A.D. McNamara Company, Inc., which from inception was a major player of the food brokerage industry, with national grocery chains and distributors as its clientele. He was truly a leader of the private label food industry. In 1995 Adrian McNamara retired, turning the company over to his sons. A man always fully active, he was a member of the Foodsters, a food industry trade organization, its vice president, president, and was honored as a lifetime member. As music was the center of his life, appropriately Adrian McNamara found his life partner while singing with the San Francisco Opera in 1954. He encountered, courted and wed a ballerina, Constance Coler, who was with the San Francisco Ballet which was then dancing with the Opera. They wed in 1956. To his love for opera was then added a devotion to ballet, so that he was ever in attendance through all the successive seasons of both major companies. Having a keen eye and with his experience and sense of the stage along with the critical studying of it, and with his great humor and ability to work with people happily, it was only a matter of time before he became a director. This happened at the Bohemian Club, which he joined as a singer in 1963. Until 2004, he directed a large number of its shows and served the Club regularly in multiple capacities. It had become the focus of his artistic interests. Adrian McNamara is survived by his wife, Constance; his son Neil Adrian McNamara and his wife Julie, of South San Francisco; his son Keith Eugene McNamara, of Burlingame; a brother, Thomas McNamara, of San Leandro; and a granddaughter, Chloe. The family requests that memorial contributions go to the Lamplighters, 469 Bryant St, SF 94107. There will be a private memorial service Fri, May 13.