Irwin Gibbs, 90, veteran of World War II, local businessman, active philanthropist, avid sportsman, man about town and lover of life, died on June 5 in San Francisco from complications following heart surgery.

     Family and friends marveled at his inexhaustible energy which only seemed to grow stronger as he grew older.

     Irwin was born in Stockton, and lived the majority of his life in San Francisco. He grew up in the Marina District, where he attended Galileo High School. He entered University of California, Berkeley in 1943, and joined the Naval ROTC program. He entered the Navy as a lieutenant in World War II and served on supply ships in the Pacific until he was injured. While in the Pacific, he sent monthly checks back home to his parents – his winnings aboard the ship from long hours of cribbage.

     Following the war, Irwin returned to UC Berkeley to complete his degree in accounting and business administration. He joined and became president of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, the only Jewish fraternity on campus. At Berkeley, he met and married native San Franciscan, Marion Brill, in 1946. The couple celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary this year. 

     After graduation, Irwin entered his father’s food brokerage company which later merged with B.L. McCormick in San Francisco, to form Gibbs McCormick, Inc, which he headed for half a century Although he “retired” at 65, he continued to show up for work there until the month before his death.

     He was a co-founder of the industry trade group, the Foodsters, which continues to serve members of the industry to this day. For the past 58 years, Irwin ran an annual fundraising event for the Food Industry Foundation to endow scholarships for students studying food sciences at UC Davis, Cal Poly, Santa Clara University. Every year, donning full chef’s regalia, Irwin and his sous chefs would cook cioppino, an old time San Francisco shellfish dish, for several hundred appreciative diners. The money raised at the annual event has provided scholarships to hundreds of students.

     Irwin was very active in other local philanthropies. He worked with the March of Dimes Foundation, and actively participated in their annual campaign. He was Chair of the Board of the Institute on Aging, and Chair of the Building Committee. In that capacity, he oversaw the development and construction of the residential tower on Geary Blvd for aging and infirm, low-income San Franciscans. He was recently named lifetime honorary board member of the IOA.

     Irwin was an avid stamp collector and internationally recognized expert on stamps from the Panama Canal Zone. Over seven decades of collecting, Irwin amassed one of the finest collections of Canal Zone postal stationary in the world, which won gold medals at numerous international exhibitions. He authored two books on Panama Canal Zone stamps, which now serve as authoritative guides in that area.

     Irwin was a longtime member of the Montezuma Duck Club in the Sacramento delta where he hunted ducks, albeit with diminishing success, until his death. He was an avid fly fisherman and loved to fish on the Mackenzie River in Oregon.

     Irwin’s love for old-time San Francisco never abated. He was a member of the French Club in San Francisco, a private dining club founded in 1905. He was a member of the San Francisco Wine & Food Society. He was particularly fond of San Francisco’s gastronomic scene, and was equally comfortable in ancient establishments like Tadich’s and Sam’s, as he was in Boulevard and One Market. Nothing pleased him more than dining with his adult grandchildren at these restaurants and advising them on how life should be led.

     Irwin is survived by his wife, Marion, his two sons, Gary Gibbs and Larry Gibbs, his daughters-in-law, Margaret Corrigan and Madeline Mindek, his grandchildren, Amanda Jones and her husband Mark, Joe Gibbs, Sara Corrigan-Gibbs, Henry CorriganGibbs, Eva Sullivan and her husband Ryan, and David Peterson, a great-grandson, Spencer Jones, his niece, Shelley Friedman, his nephew, Rob Gibbs, and countless friends. A memorial service will be announced by the family.