Clifford Barbanell

1919 - 2017

Clifford Alan Barbanell

May 15, 1919 - September 26, 2017

We lost our beloved Cliff early Tuesday morning Sept 26, 2017. He leaves behind his devoted family, his wife Harriet, his son Gregg, daughter Cynthia, son-in-law Lloyd, grandchildren Max, Sam, Eleanor and Willow (deceased). He also left his devoted caregiver and our new family member, Elias Buensuceso.

He graduated from Lowell High School, UC Berkeley (Class of 40) where he lead the water polo team as Captain, and received his MBA from Stanford University, Class of 1942. He served with distinction in WWII, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel after more than 20 years in the reserves. After a career with Seagrams, he founded Barbanell Associates, an employee benefits consulting firm and was respected and admired by his peers as a leader at the top of his field. He swam at least "a mile a day" for most of his life, and each year on his birthday, swam his age in laps at his favorite pool at The Concordia Club.

He was a fair, honest man with integrity, courage, kindness, sense of humor (prankster) and great storyteller. He wrote a tremendous amount of poetry in the last 20 years of his life. In his retirement, Cliff tutored reading and writing to disadvantaged kids in Marin City and continued with his philanthropic activities with Camp Tawonga, Jewish Family and Children's Services, The Commonwealth Club, The Concordia Club (past President). He took classes at The Fromm Institute, was a prolific reader and writer, and relished spending time with his family
He loved his life, his family, and he was content.

Memorial service to be held towards the end of October. We will post on CaringBridge.org under Harriet Barbanell. In lieu of flowers, contributions to Camp Tawonga, 131 Steuart Street, Suite 460, San Francisco, CA 94105, Jewish Family and Children's Services, 2150 Post Street, Box 159004, San Francisco, CA 94115 or the charity of your choosing would be an honor to Cliff.