Lucy Stofle

Lucy Stofle
07/31/2025
Lucy Stofle died on the morning of July 31. She was born in Berkeley in 1945 to Margaret Ruth Schuster and Donald Lawhon Stofle who met as students at U.C. Berkeley. Donald Stofle served in the Pacific in WWII in the boiler rooms as a Merchant Marine.
Lucy grew up in Berkeley, Fairfax, Stinson Beach, and then Palo Alto from 1952 until graduating from Cubberly High School. She attended San Francisco State, then moved to Mill Valley and met Leonard Anderson, a reporter for the Mill Valley Record, and a graduate of S.F.State. They were married from 1970 until Leonard's death in 2018.
When Leonard was hired as an editor for the Wall Street Journal, they moved to Staten Island (where Lucy finished her BA degree) then to London, and then to Montreal where their first son Maxwell was born. They hoped that the WSJ would send Leonard to the one position they had in San Francisco, but when that didn't come up, they came to San Fransico and rented an apartment on Polk Street. Their second son Addison was born in San Francisco in 1985.
While in Montreal, Lucy founded a shelter for battered women called Auberge, which is going still. Lucy had been collecting a little Canadian Social Security ever since.
In San Francisco, Lucy became Director of the Telegraph Hill Cooperative Nursery School. She was known to hundreds of children as Teacher Lucy. While there, she began the San Francisco International Beer Fest as a way to fund Tel Hi. On November 11, 2004 Supervisor Aaron Peskin awarded Lucy Stofle Anderson a Certificate of Honor: "For more than 20 years of outstanding leadership of the Telegraph Hill Cooperative Nursery School as the spiritual center of the Co-op's play-based philosophy; for being a tireless advocate of a child's right to play and to be respected; and for your innovative creation of the world renowned San Francisco International Beer Festival fundraiser 22 years ago which enables many neighborhood families to access the Co-op, (the) Board of Supervisors extends its highest commendation and appreciation."
Lucy's death was preceded by Leonard's death in 2018. She is survived by sons Maxwell and Addison, and brothers, Peter and Dan.