Gale Bach. Courtesy of his family and friends

Gale Bach, a longtime Berkeley resident, died on Jan. 3 of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 86.

Gale was born and grew up in North Brook, Illinois. He attended the North Shore Country Day School, Yale College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying physics before coming West in 1964 to pursue a degree in city and regional planning at UC Berkeley. There he met his future wife, the love of his life, Eve, who died in 2010.

While working as a planner for the newly created Metropolitan Transportation Commission during the 1970s and early 1980s, Gale developed a love of winemaking, first as a hobby and eventually as a second career: at Bouchaine Vineyards in Napa, Audubon Cellars in Berkeley, and with fellow former physicists George Rubissow and Tony Sargent at their eponymous winery in Berkeley.

Gale was an avid gardener and a talented carpenter. He loved good wine, a fine cigar and lentil soup. He and his wife Eve were active in the formation of Berkeley Citizens Action in the 1970s, and continued community involvement for the rest of their lives.

Gale endured his Alzheimer’s disease in good humor and stoical acceptance, reality principle at the ready. He took pleasure in daily enjoyments and delighted in observation and connection to the last. He will be missed and fondly remembered by all those who helped support him during his final decade, in particular Samara Heifetz, Jennifer Lee, Tsetan Dolma and Ethan Mitchell.  

Gale is survived by his daughter, Nadira Clarke of Washington, DC; his grandson, Nigel Davis; his cousins and nearest neighbors, Karen Shain, Jody Sokolower and Ericka Sokolower-Shain of Berkeley; his sister, Bonnie White of Cassadaga, New York; and his brothers and their spouses, Steve Bach, Beth Bach, Clint Bach and Carole Lou Terrell of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Donations in memoriam can be made to the Highlander Research and Education Center, in New Market, Tennessee. A celebration of Gale’s life will be held on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1606 Bonita Ave., in Berkeley. 

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