Paul Richard Brenner

1949 - 2025

Paul Richard Brenner
09/20/1949 - 07/27/2025
Paul was a gentle, compassionate soul who lived a life full of beauty, adventure and dedication to his family, hobbies, and interests.
A man of many wonderful contradictions, he had a 45 year career as an earring wearing banker, working for Bank of America and then Wells Fargo. He genuinely enjoyed working with colleagues and regulators on a variety of issues across the banking industry. A generally mild-mannered and cautious person he nevertheless drove a Harley style motorcycle since college. He loved riding it in West Marin where many of his black and photos were taken.
He was a kind and loving father to Tristan and James leading by example. He loved baseball and took them to many Giants' games at both Candlestick & Pacbell. They cherish the memories of meeting him at the Embarcadero and driving home after an extra innings win. Paul was very sociable and loved meeting people and organizing parties and dinners. Friends, relatives and children's friends alike can attest to being trapped in the hallway while Paul shared a new (or old) photograph. He loved bad puns and simply could not help himself telling them at any and all opportunities.
His greatest passion was black and white photography. He had a wonderful eye for the light, composition, and beauty of landscapes. During his many years exploring the medium he experimented with various camera formats and sometimes historic developing methods, experimenting in his personally constructed dark room. Diligent about documenting his results, he wrote a number of articles published in well known photography publications.
A life long interest was ham radio. He was first licensed in the sixth grade and still preferred morse code. Many on the airwaves and the streets of Marin knew him by his final call-sign W6RLF, as his Acura Legend bore the same characters.
He also enjoyed figure-skating, folk and classical music, playing the guitar, singing in choirs, history, philosophy and science fiction. He passed on many of these loves to his sons.
He was a collector – of ham radios, pocket watches, clocks, books, photography, clothes, hats, turquoise, morse code keys, fountain pens, tools, information, music and most of all cameras – point-and-shoots, Leicas, 4×5's, 8×10's, pinhole cameras that he made himself, and many more. While he was loathe to actually garden with his wife Ann at their house, he was always happy to capture photos of the roses and flowers.
If Paul loved one place it was Yosemite – the scenery, the photography, hiking, taking family trips there every autumn, and it's where he asked Ann to marry him. (After she proved her worth by lugging his cameras for him across icy meadows at 5:00 in the morning so he could take photos of the sunrise on Half Dome).
He was born in Washington DC, grew up in Greenwich CT, attended Occidental College in CA and earned his MBA from Columbia. He and Ann met in Pasadena in 1982 and were married at her parents' house in Santa Barbara in 1986 and moved to Ross where they lived for 39 years.
For the last 15 years he met the challenges of Parkinson's Disease with determination and grace. He did everything he could to combat it, exercising, keeping a positive attitude, and walking in the neighborhood where he would chat and connect with all his neighbors.
He is survived by his wife, Ann, his sons Tristan (Lauren) and James (Schuyler), two granddaughters Josephine and Isla, and his brother Thomas and family.
A memorial will be held in September. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Michael J Fox Parkinson's Foundation or The Yosemite Conservancy in Paul's honor.