Isadore (Izzy) Pivnick was born in Kansas City, MO on November 17, 1920. He and his family moved to Los Angeles, CA when he was a young boy. They subsequently moved to San Francisco when he was a teenager, and the City was his home for the rest of his life.
As a young man, he attended San Francisco State University until the onset of World War II. Like many of his fellow students, he enlisted in the army before completing his degree. During his service, he rose to the rank of Captain and fought in Italy. Upon his return from the war, he completed his degree at San Francisco State. He served as student body president his senior year, and in 2009 he was awarded the San Francisco State's President's medal both for his service to the school and the community. He followed with graduate work at Stanford University, earning a masters degree in education.
He met and married Marilyn Bakar Pivnick after a whirlwind courtship: he asked her to marry him on their second date, which took place just two days after they met at a dance. Some things you just know: they enjoyed 68 happy years of marriage.
Izzy began his career as an elementary school teacher, but he was soon promoted to vice-principal, principal, and, ultimately, to Associate Superintendent of schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. He retired from the San Francisco Unified School District in 1978 after more than thirty years.
Following his first "retirement", he became the Vice President for Human Resources at his brother's company, Cable Car Clothiers. His next career was as director of Contact 4 at KRON-TV. Izzy thought up the idea of a consumer affairs help desk, sold the tv station on it, and he and a group of volunteers worked to defend consumers rights. If a story was good enough, Izzy would be called upon to report the story on tv with the news anchors. At age 89, Izzy was asked to develop a similar consumer affairs program at KPIX-TV. At 91, he retired for the last time, after which he enjoyed time with his friends and family.
Izzy passed away comfortably at his home on September 7, 2017, surrounded by family. He is pre-deceased by his wife, Marilyn, his brothers, Charlie, Saul, and his sister, Jeanette. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Stuart Pivnick and Alice Akawie; his daughter and son-in-law, Sandi and Paul Wasserstein; his sister-in-law, Geraldine Belling, his grandson and his wife, Daniel and Jovy Pivnick, and his great grand son, Walter Pivnick; his granddaughter and her husband, Julia and Justin Street; his granddaughter and her husband, Allison and Jon Schippers, and his great grand sons Noah and Henry Schippers; and, his grandson and his wife, Samuel and Lea Wasserstein.
A memorial service will be held at Sinai Memorial Chapel located at 1501 Divisidero Street, San Francisco at 11 a.m. on Tuesday September 12, 2017. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Morris Stulsaft Foundation 1660 Bush Street, Suite 300, San Francisco CA 94109, where Izzy served as a board member and vice president for more than 30 years, or to UCSF Foundation - Clara Shen Geriatric Teaching Fund, P.O. Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145 would be appreciated by the family.