It’s been 16 years since my brother Gene succumbed to AIDS on September 18, 1995. There have been many memorable events in our lives. Some of them are good and some, not so good. He was the academic brain of the family – you know, the 4.0 kind of guy. He graduated from Mission High School in San Francisco in the top of his class. Even got an A.P. Gianini award and scholarship.
Gene came back to San Francisco after his Masters in Social Work. He devoted much of his life to the S.F. Welfare Department, and moved on from there to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. It was there that he made a name for himself. He was Area Director of redevelopment in the Fillmore. He faced anger from blacks and whites, but persisted in making the Fillmore what it is now.
Pastors, Rabbis, neighborhood activists and government officials praised his work. He served under many mayors – Moscone, Feinstein and Brown to name a few. For his work, he was honored by having Gene E. Suttle Jr. Plaza at Fillmore and O’Farrell named in his honor. If you are in the City, stop by the Plaza on the east side of Fillmore. He worked to make the Fillmore more than it was, but a reflection of it’s past – witness the resurgence of jazz in the venues of the Fillmore. Part of what he worked for was to recreate some of that culture.
Gene attended UC Berkeley, and it was after I returned to San Francisco that he introduced me to Consumer’s Co-Op of Berkeley. It was there that it was impressed on me to really know what your food cost you. Gene was a budgeteer (thanks to Grandmother), and he wanted me to understand that a dollar for a package might not be a deal – the $2 package might have 3 times the food in it. He and the Co-Op constantly urged members to figure out the price per ounce – forget the price per package. They called this “unit pricing.”
“Unit pricing” has stuck with me to this day. Out comes the cell phone or watch to do the calculation. That’s why I so often find that the $15 dollar sale package actually costs more that the $17 not on sale package.
There’s more about Gene, but that’s for another day. Thanks Bro’