Stephen Potash

Stephen J. (Steven) Potash

Age 68, a long-time public relations consultant specialized in Pacific Basin business, shipping and logistics, died August 2, 2013. With his wife of 43 years, Jeremy W. Potash, he established Potash & Company, Oakland CA. The firm represented leading international firms such as APL (formerly American President Lines), and also helped found and manage the non-profit California-Asia Business Council (Cal-Asia).

Steve was born in Houston TX on Feb. 25, 1945, son of Melvin L. Potash and Petrice Edelstein Potash. He grew up in El Paso. He was a 1967 graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, CA, where he met his future wife Jeremy and they were married in 1969 in "Little Bridges" at Pomona. He is survived by his son, Aaron Warner Potash and his wife Maki Kasai, grandchildren Maximilian Blair and Mia Kasai; brother Mel (wife Adele), sister Pamela (husband Howard), nieces Lisa Erlanger Coopersmith and Renee Potash Dondes; godson Nguyen Ky (Ann Bui) and their children Landon and Jaden; sister-in-law Liz Gibney, brothers-in-law Michael Warner and Jon Warner, and beloved nieces and nephews.

As a founding member of the board of Cal-Asia, he managed the first post-war business friendship delegation to Vietnam in 1992, prior to the lifting of the US embargo. Cal-Asia was later credited by the US Commerce Department for helping bring about the eventual normalization of commercial and diplomatic relations with Vietnam - a focus and accomplishment that especially gratified him.

Besides his family, his greatest passion was collecting 19th Century paintings and lithographs depicting the ships of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which brought miners to the California Gold Rush and, after 1867, brought Chinese and Japanese immigrants to America. He co-authored a book with his friend Dr. Robert J. Chandler, entitled "Gold, Silk, Pioneers & Mail: the Story of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company".

Steve collected Chinese Export Silver or "China Trade" silver and his expertise was sought by collectors worldwide; the collection is now part of a planned China Trade museum in North Carolina. He and his wife also collected brass Chanukah lamps from the 17th - 19th centuries and other Judaica.

At the time of his death he was a member of the Yerba Buena (SF) chapter of E Clampus Vitus; a Board Member of the Friends of the San Francisco Maritime Museum Library; and the Kaiser-Oakland chapter of Mended Hearts, where he also co-chaired the development of a heart-healthy cookbook entitled "To Life!" Steve had also served on the board of Temple Sinai

The family welcomes donations to any of the following organizations: Temple Sinai, Oakland; Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley; Friends of the Maritime Museum Library of the SF Maritime National Historical Park; the Chinese Export Dept. of the Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem MA; Plan USA, Warwick, RI; or the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, marked for the SS China Cabin, Tiburon CA.