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Alex Zuckermann (Oakland Tribune)
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Jym Dyer
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Aug 23, 2007 00:50 PDT
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http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_6590827
East Bay Bicycle Coalition founder dies at 86
By Kristin Bender.
Oakland Tribune | 10-Aug-2007
BERKELEY -- Alex Zuckermann, who 35 years ago founded the East
Bay Bicycle Coalition and continued to be a tireless bicycling
advocate as he rode thousands of miles each year into his early
80s, has died. Mr. Zuckermann died at his home at Chaparall
House in Berkeley on Sunday after a brief illness, said his son
David Zuckermann.
He was 86.
During his more than 30-year fight to make the Bay Area more
bicycle-friendly, Mr. Zuckermann founded the bicycle coalition,
which now has 1,400 members, helped advocate for a bike path
around Lake Merritt and fought for the right to take bikes on
BART.
When taking bikes on the train was granted in 1974,
Mr. Zuckermann was granted permit No. 1 for his bike. The
transit agency later did away with bike permits.
The March 1975 issue of "Bicycling" magazine, a national
publication, shows Mr. Zuckermann and other local riders
preparing to take their bikes on the BART train.
"He was a competitive spirit in every sense of the word. A
tenacious advocate in the (bike) saddle and at the conference
table," said Robert Raburn, the executive director of the
Oakland-based East Bay Bicycle Coalition.
Because he worked as a city planner, Mr. Zuckermann figured
out early on that when dealing with governmental agencies,
conversation was betterthan confrontation, friends said.
When Critical Mass was pouring hundreds of bicyclists onto city
streets to slow traffic in an attempt to decrease the number of
cars on the road, Mr. Zuckermann put on a suit and tie and sat
around a conference table talking with local and regional
leaders.
"He totally embodied the advocacy message he was transmitting.
He always showed up in a suit and tie -- on a bike. Always,"
Raburn said.
He loved bikes and bicycling. He loved that he was doing
something good for the environment and he loved the freedom he
felt on the bike, his son said.
"In his later years, he really just lived his life to the
fullest," his son said. "He did what he enjoyed and he had a
wide circle of friends. He wasn't rich, but he had enough money
to do the modest things he enjoyed and he was happy and he
glowed with energy. To me, that's what makes me the most happy.
He was thrilled to be alive."
He was also quite the daredevil.
"He would do things I wouldn't do," said Raburn, 53. "I use my
brakes when I go down hill. While I might be able to take Alex
on a climb, he was a risk taker on the fast descents."
In 1999, at the age of 78, Mr. Zuckermann was still riding his
bike 6,000 miles a year, said the younger Zuckermann, 50, of
El Cerrito. That same year, he completed two of five mountain
passes in the Death Ride, a treacherous 129-mile ride in
the California Alps that includes 16,000 feet of vertical
climbing -- in one day.
"He was an animal, and furthermore he prided himself on being
ageless and making people's eyes pop out with his feats," said
the younger Zuckermann.
Although he didn't really get into bike riding until the early
1970s, biking became not only a "physical adventure but also a
cause," his son said.
"That just carried on ... until the night of the accident he was
living that cause."
In October 2002, Mr. Zuckermann suffered serious head injuries
in a bike accident on the Bay Bridge, where he was riding his
bike with Caltrans officials.
Caltrans officials invited Mr. Zuckermann to join them on a
nighttime ride across the bridge as a way to examine issues
facing bicyclists who were pushing for access to the
Richmond-San Rafael bridge.
With the Bay Bridge closed at night because of construction
work, Caltrans officials figured it was the perfect time to let
an avid bicyclist see what it was like to ride across the spans.
"I just know he wanted to ride the bridge that night and say
that he did it," his son said.
Two hours into the ride -- at 3 a.m. -- a tire on
Mr. Zuckermann's bike hit an expansion joint while the group was
riding on the upper deck, on the east side of Yerba Buena Island.
He hit his head on the pavement, and a California Highway Patrol
officer on duty nearby called an ambulance. He lost
consciousness and slipped into a coma.
Doctors weren't sure he'd survive.
He remained in the hospital for many months -- where fellow bike
advocates gave him bike issue related updates -- and finally
improved enough to be moved into a care facility. He moved to
Chaparral House in Berkeley a few years ago.
Mr. Zuckermann used a wheelchair and could no longer ride, but
he continued to be active in the biking community, coming out to
rest spots on long bike rides and taking a trip to Treasure
Island with his son earlier this year to monitor bridge
construction.
"The accident was tragic and sad, but there were a lot of
wonderful moments afterward," his son said.
Born in Berlin in 1921, Mr. Zuckermann came to New York in 1938
and then hitchhiked to California to be near an up-and-coming
classical music scene. He was a violinist.
He earned both a bachelor's degree in German and a master's
degree in city planning from the University of California,
Berkeley. He worked as a city planner for the city of Oakland
for more than two decades and also founded the Chamber Musicians
of Northern California and the Regional Bicycle Advocacy
Coalition.
Because Mr. Zuckermann led the charge in the 1990s to add the
path to the design of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge,
he was honored by the state of California by having a-yet-to-be
constructed bike/pedestrian path on the east span named after
him.
Mr. Zuckermann is survived by his sons David Zuckermann and
Ronald Zuckermann, both of El Cerrito; his brother Wolfgang
Zuckermann of France; and two granddaughters. Another brother,
Michael Zuckermann of Santa Barbara, preceded him in death.
For more information on where to send donations and a memorial
service, which will be held at the end of August, visit
alexZhome.com. There is also a memory book for Mr. Zuckerman at
the Web site.
A memorial bike ride organized by the Grizzly Peak Cyclists is
also in the works. Mr. Zuckermann created the Second Saturday
Ride and a memorial ride may be held on Sept. 8. Visit their Web
site at grizzlypeakcyclists.org for additional details.
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