George Carvalho

1928 - 2016

George Carvalho, Sr.

December 1928 - June 2016

George Carvalho passed away in his sleep the same day Muhammed Ali left us. With his wife Shirley, who he was married to for over fifty years prior to her death last year, George raised three boys, a gaggle of ducks, and doted on five grandchildren from his home in Alameda. George was a sports fan, a collector, a tinkerer.

He was too young for WWII, but after attending Fremont High School in Oakland and playing football and running track at City College of San Francisco (CCSF), he served in the Navy Reserve for almost a decade shooting aerial photography of much of California. His love of photography became a lifelong passion. Something he studied at CCSF and later developed into a career by co-founding a small telescope, photography, and astronomy shop in Oakland – Optica b/c -- and also teaching both photography and astronomy at Merritt College in Oakland.

After retiring from Optica b/c he spent almost twenty years volunteering at the Oakland Museum's White Elephant sale – organizing and helping run the photography and astronomy sections. But he also spent a lot of focus doting on his five grandchildren. Asking them questions, making sand boxes and various contraptions, and trying to convert them to lifelong lovers of linguica.

An Alameda Resident for almost 60 years he is survived by his three sons George of Alameda, Kenneth and his wife Connie of Alameda, Chris of San Rafael, and grandfather to Matt, Josh, Charles, Julia & Joey Carvalho. Predeceased were his wife Shirley, his parents Jose and Julia Carvalho, and his brother William.