Sandra Treacy

1946 - 2023

Sandra Treacy
August 22, 1946 - September 17, 2023
Sandra died peacefully in her sleep at her home in San Francisco on September 17th, 2023 with her husband Robert and son Daniel by her side. Sandra was born in San Francisco in 1946, the first of five children to parents Edmund and Loretta Treacy. As her father was a naval officer, Sandra's family moved often in her youth. Her early years were spent in Kifisea, Greece; Key West, Florida; and Monterey, California. Sandra attended high school in Annapolis, Maryland and college at Santa Clara University. From the beginning, Sandra displayed a dynamic and engaging personality coupled with a zest for life that was both refreshing and infectious to those around her. All along the way, she made and sustained lifelong friendships.
After graduating with honors from Santa Clara University, Sandra completed a Master's Degree in education at UC Berkeley. Her first job was teaching high school English in Moraga, California. She then took a position as the first paralegal hired by the law firm of Cotton, Seligman, and Ray. It was there that she met her husband to be Robert Bunker. They worked on several cases together then inexplicably found themselves many late afternoons stealing away to the firm's conference room at the same time to engage in long 'Dinner with Andre' style conversations. They then left the firm separately only to meet again a year later, fortuitously, on a street in Noe Valley. By then, Sandra was employed as the Executive Director of the Northern California Service League, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing services to persons incarcerated in the San Francisco County Jail. Meanwhile, Robert was working as an attorney for the San Francisco Public Defender's Office. This time, leaving nothing to chance, they moved in together and before too long got married. In 1981, their son Daniel was born.
Sandra returned to work in 1985 as Executive Director of the San Francisco School Volunteers. There, for the next 14 years, she engaged with her core interest in education and in the process, greatly expanded the mission and reach of that organization. The organization embarked on many new projects and initiatives. Sandra received numerous awards and honors along the way. In 1999, Sandra began the last leg of her employment career as the Executive Director of a family foundation, the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, awarding grants in the areas of education, early education, and youth development. In selecting initiatives to fund, Sandra scoured the country to identify exemplary organizations and to award grants to nonprofits with innovative approaches to effecting positive change. In doing so, she drew upon her wealth of experience in the field of education as well as her appreciation of the challenges faced by nonprofits working within that field. In all of leadership positions, Sandra was an innovative thinker, an articulate communicator, and a generous mentor. Her grace, style, fortitude and verve were an inspiration to many.
In retirement, Sandra and Robert enjoyed extensive travel to destinations around the world. Sandra continued to mentor younger colleagues and served on Boards of Directors of various organizations including the Pristine Mind Foundation and Equality Effects. She is survived by husband Robert, son Daniel (Kathleen), beloved grandsons Joseph, Sean and Charlie, brothers Jeremiah Treacy (Rebecca) and Jack Treacy, S.J., sister Kathleen Treacy, and numerous cousins, nephews, and nieces. The family would like to say thank you to Dr. Steven Katznelson, Dr. John Riordan, Dr. Bertrand Tuan, and Dr. Joan Saxton, for the care they provided Sandra during her life, and to Abigail Ballani for the care she provided at the end. Sandra will be greatly missed. Her life will be celebrated with a funeral mass to be held on October 28th at 1:00 p.m. at Saint Ignatius Church in San Francisco, 650 Parker Avenue, with a reception to follow. Guests may park in any University of San Francisco parking lot.