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BORN
1947
DIED
2024
Mark Kennedy Obituary
November 14, 1947 - January 30, 2024
Mark Anthony Kennedy passed away on January 30, 2024, after a year-long struggle with lung cancer. Born in Hanover, N.H., in 1947, Kennedy was raised in Bellows Falls, Vt. His passion for music began at an early age and saw its apogee when he moved to the Bay Area after attending Berklee College of Music, where he studied upright bass. He was music director/composer for the Pickle Family Circus and Make-a-Circus, and taught at the Community Music Center in San Francisco. His many guitar and bass students voted him "Best Music Lessons in the Bay Area." A prolific composer for independent theater productions, such as "Two-Bit Tango," Kennedy also music-directed the Academy Award-winning short film, "Clowning Around." For 13 years he played jazz at Harris' Restaurant in San Francisco with the Susan Chen Trio. His satirical holiday songs were an annual gift to family and friends, skewering consumerism, conspiracy theories, and political idiocy.
Kennedy leaves behind a loving wife, son, sister, two stepchildren, and six grandchildren. We remember his irrepressible sense of humor and endless creative spirit that lives on in hundreds of songs.
Donations in Mark's name can be made to the Community Music Center in San Francisco: sfcmc.org
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Mark Kennedy
5 Entries
joyce Byrum
August 30, 2024
Mark was such a gifted musician, and he was a good friend & neighbor here in Benicia, Ca. He did his best to try to teach my husband Les guitar, I think it was rather hopeless. They had a good time, many laughs & shared stories, as we did as couples together. Mark will truly be missed.
Debra Aarens
June 28, 2024
Mark, gifted musician, song writer, artist. Great sense of humor. So handsome. I will never forget you.
Johanna
June 6, 2024
Such a wonderfully horrific of mystical misery we had together
Kevin Groom
February 6, 2024
So much that can be said; simply put, Mark was a spiritual man who had a deep love for the truth and expressed it through his music and his everyday life. We have lost a good man, an honest man and a warrior who made damn good music!
Dan Moynihan
February 6, 2024
Mark,Even though I had not seen you i many years, I still remember playing basketball with you, Jerry and Kevin in that big back room you had at your house on Hapgood St. Your cousin Dan
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