William George Koster, 68, passed away on Sunday, May 8th, 2011 at UC Medical Center in San Francisco, CA, from a heart attack suffered on the way home from attending a San Francisco Giants Baseball Game (They won!).
He is survived by his son, Daniel (Teri Booth), his sister, Norma Kulma (Ken), nephew Glenn LeBrasseur (Trina), niece Lynne LeBrasseur (Joseph Markulin), great nephew Collin LeBrasseur and great niece Adrian LeBrasseur.
Born September 9th, 1942 at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, MD, he spent his early childhood in Glen Burnie, MD, attending Richard Henry Lee Elementary School. He moved to Philadelphia in 1950 and graduated from Olney High School in 1959. He briefly attended George Washington University in the nation’s capital, where he worked on John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Presidential campaign. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and after his Honorable Discharge, he attended Windham College in Putney, VT from 1966-1969, where he graduated with a B.A. in History. He was married to Thalia McCarthy in 1969, moved to San Francisco, CA the same year, and began a 20 year career in insurance.
Bill was actively involved with CSERC to protect the water, wildlife and wild places of the Northern Yosemite region. He loved history, baseball, practicing random acts of kindness, and touched all who knew him.
Graveside service with military honors will be presented at 11 AM on Friday, June 3, 2011 at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road, Dixon, CA 95620.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center (CSERC), PO Box 396, Twain Harte, CA 95383 – www.cserc.org – or email johnb@cserc.org . Please specify donations are in honor of William Koster.
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It meant a lot to Glenn and to me for Bill to attend Glenn’s college graduation. We were always touched by his devotion to his son Daniel, and his guardianship of the family photos and artwork that he’s passed along to us over the years. We are saddened by his passing, but comforted that he enjoyed his life to the very end.
I miss you Uncle Bill. Memories of you comfort me during this sad time.
Bill, what a delight you were, both in conversation, interests, warmth, and hospitality. The pain of your loss is offset by the knowledge of the delight you got from life, and the fullness and goodness you gave back to it. You are much missed, and were greatly appreciated.
What a priceless photo of WGK at the World Series, lookin’ “stoked.”
I met Bill over Skype, but it was evident to me how kind he was. My sympathies to all his family.
We are really missing Bill. He graced our life in so many ways!
Although I only met Bill once I was quite impressed with his gentleness and caring. It was a pleasure to know him, in person, in addition to the fun stories I was told by his other friends.
Bill started bringing his car to me many years ago. During that time we had had many conversations about many different things. Bill was quite the conversationalist, and we became good friends. He will surely be missed.
Bill was a kind soul. In his relationships with others he was always thinking of what he could do to make their lives, or at least the current day, better. He had an amazing photographic memory. I once asked him what the population of San Francisco was at the time of the Gold Rush. He told me the population at the beginning of the Gold Rush, and the population at the end. We will miss Bill immensely. We will miss his thirst for knowledge. We will miss his incredible empathy. We will miss the conversations.
Thank you to all who have shared their kind words. We are comforted knowing that those who knew Bill enjoyed his company. My brother Bill and I were very close growing up. Later in life we were in different cities. My husband and I had good times with Bill when we visited. We will miss him dearly.
I met Bill when I first moved to San Francisco in the late 60s, and found him to be genuinely kind and wickedly smart. He was a true gentleman who will be sorely missed.
Bill’s kind and caring personality and knowledge about countless subjects will be missed. He was a true gentleman.
Bill always had a smile on his face in his red Mustang convertible with “WGK” plates. He towered above most of us. He was a true gentleman and possessed that ability to listen calmly to what others had to say. He was a trusted friend and a good house mate in East Putney. Bill could always be counted on to be there. He always kept in touch over these may years. Bill was a good guy and a great friend. I will miss him.
Although I had not seen Bill in all too many recent years, I have always considered him to be one of my very best of friends of all time, because he really was a very special person, indeed. Sharp as a whip with an abundance of intelligence and a heart as big as a battle ship, he radiated warmth, love and humor to everyone he met, without exception. The wealth of wonder-filled memories I have shared with Bill are far too many to do justice here in this short space, but suffice it to say, I still to this day catch myself smiling over and over again… As Bill would say, “The hits just keep on coming”, and what a hit he was!
It has been many years since I last saw Bill, we worked in Commercial Group at Fireman’s Fund in S.F. I can only echo some of the comments about his wit and memory skills. We had some great parties and he’ll be remembered fondly. We’ll miss you Bill!
I had the good fortune to work with Bill at Fireman’s Fund Ins Co. We shared an interest in San Francisco history and did some excursions together to explore the City. I found him to be one of the most interesting people I have ever met.
Hi there, I came upon this while researching the Koster family (my grandmother was Anna Koster). I’m sorry for your loss and wish I’d known Bill– I’m a huge baseball fan myself. Feel free to contact me at my email address; I’d love to see if there’s a connection with my grandmother. I have some pictures of her. Take care and God bless.
Bill & I started Marine boot camp on 27Sep1962, graduated together and then attended Infantry Training followed by Communications School back at MCRD-San Diego. We lost track of each other the next year when I was transferred elsewhere.
Bill was a very good man and an excellent fellow Marine. We had some great times together when stationed together in San Diego. I offer my most sincere condolences to Bill’s family. Today for the first time I finally located him online and I am very sorry that he passed but, I guess, at least the Giants didn’t lose that night! Thank you, Bill, for being a good buddy!