Obituary

Former SF Giants Owner Peter Magowan, 76

Published

8 years ago

February 1, 2019

Peter Magowan, the lifelong San Francisco Giants fan who formed the ownership group that kept the team in San Francisco with a sparkling waterfront ballpark, died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 76.

Magowan was a fan ever since going to games at the Polo Grounds in New York and then played a critical role in the team’s success over the past quarter-century.

“During a tenuous period for the franchise, Peter stepped up and led the group that purchased the Giants and kept them in San Francisco,” commissioner Rob Manfred said. “With groundbreaking vision, he then guided the effort that resulted in a ballpark that became a landmark for the city. In his 16 seasons of leadership, Peter oversaw a winning, civic-minded ballclub that represented the spirit of San Francisco. The foundation created under his direction helped make the Giants the model club they remain today.”

Magowan helped form the ownership group that bought the franchise for $100 million from Bob Lurie in December 1992 to keep the team from moving to Tampa Bay. One of his first moves was signing Barry Bonds to a six-year, $43.5 million free agent deal even before he formally completed the purchase of the team.

In a tweet Sunday night, Bonds shared his thoughts on Magowan and what he meant to San Francisco.

“I’m extremely saddened by the passing of Peter Magowan. I will never forget our first call about the possibility of me coming home to play. He saved baseball for San Francisco and will be greatly missed. Sending my love and prayers to Debby and family. I love you Peter Magowan,” tweeted Bond.

With the game’s greatest slugger in place, the Giants went on to have great success and Magowan put together a plan to build a privately funded ballpark on the water in downtown San Francisco. That park, the first in years built without direct public funding, opened in 2000 and became one of the jewels of the game.

Magowan stepped down following the 2008 season but had put in place the management team that helped bring San Francisco its first World Series title in 2010, followed by championships in 2012 and 2014.

“Peter’s mark on the Giants and the San Francisco community can be felt throughout the ballpark, in which he was intimately involved in the design and planning and throughout the daily operations of the organization,” Giants president and CEO Larry Baer said. “He set forth a Giants vision to create a winning culture and to serve our fans and the community. Over the past 25 years, we have followed through on his vision and his impact on our community will be felt for decades to come.”

Magowan moved to California in 1958, the same year the Giants relocated from New York to San Francisco. He had a successful business, working 37 years for Safeway Inc., including serving as chairman and CEO from 1980-93 before stepping down after taking over the Giants.

The Giants made the playoffs four times in Magowan’s 16-year tenure running the Giants, including a trip to the World Series in 2002 before losing in seven games to the Angels.

Bonds also went on to set the single-season and career homer records during his tenure with the Giants, hitting 73 homers in 2001 and 762 in his career.

Magowan did significant work in the community, making the Giants the first professional sports team to dedicate an annual game to the fight against AIDS/HIV with the creation of “Until There’s A Cure Day” in 1994. He also formed the Junior Giants program that provided free leagues for kids to play and learn baseball.

Magowan also revered the rich history of the franchise he started following as a child, signing Hall of Famer Willie Mays to a lifetime contract and bringing back Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda to the organization to serve as special advisers. In 2008, he established the Giants Wall of Fame, which serves as a tribute to the organization’s greatest players of the San Francisco era.

Magowan will be added to the Wall of Fame on Feb. 9.

“Peter Magowan has been a part of my life for a long, long time, first as a fan watching me play in New York and then, remaining a fan when we moved to San Francisco,” Mays said. “Along the way, he became my friend. Peter would call me often to check in. He and Debby cared about me and it was so easy to care about them in return. It’s hard to find the right words just now, but in losing Peter, I’ve lost a great, great friend. He was like my godfather. No one can replace him.”

He is survived by wife Debby, five children and 12 grandchildren.

“Our family lost a great man today,” the family said in a statement. “We all know how much Peter loved his Giants and San Francisco, and he had that same love and passion for his family. He was so proud of his children and grandchildren, and we will forever cherish the memories we made together.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Arts and Culture

IN MEMORIAM: Oakland Dance Legend Reginald Ray-Savage, 67

Savage lived his life as tribute to the teachers who had shared their wisdom on art and life with him. With a palpably genuine enthusiasm and desire to bring out the best in people, and pass the torch to the next generation, he poured into his students, as his teachers and mentors had into him. His infectious energy, love of life, and generosity of spirit inspired countless souls, both inside and outside the dance studio.

Published

1 month ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Reginald Ray-Savage brought the old-school teaching techniques he learned in the Katherine Dunham Dance Company to the youth at the Oakland School for the Arts in 2003. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

Reginald Ray-Savage – dancer, choreographer, and beloved teacher, mentor, and inspiration to many – passed away on May 17. The Oakland School for the Arts dance instructor was 67.

Born Reginald Ray, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sept. 5, 1958, he formally adopted the name ‘Savage,’ to honor the great Archie Savage, his mentor at Katherine Dunham’s Performing Arts Training Center where his dance training journey began in East St. Louis, Illinois.

He soon started dancing professionally with Katherine Dunham Dance Company, making dance a way of life. His grit, tenacity, and notorious work ethic brought him scholarships to train at multiple prestigious dance institutions, including The Ailey School (NYC) and Ruth Page School of Dance (Chicago), under the direction of acclaimed ballet instructor Larry Long and Dolores Lipinski-Long.

He danced with several companies, including Joel Hall Dance Company, Ruth Page Ballet Chicago, Lyric Opera, Chicago City Ballet, American Festival Ballet, and touring productions of “The Music Man” and “A Chorus Line”.

In 1989, Savage moved to Oakland, where he started teaching seven days a week, amassing a devoted following that was attracted to his no-nonsense, impassioned, and effective old-school teaching style.

In 1992, at the insistence of his committed core of students, he founded Savage Jazz Dance Company (SJDC). Over a span of 30 years, Savage produced more than 100 original works and toured SJDC nationally and internationally, performing at Casa del Jazz in Rome to a packed house and rave reviews—the first dance company to receive such an invitation.

Savage built SJDC into one of the Bay Area’s most respected dance companies, creating a signature style known for its combination of disciplined training, blended with rich artistic musical expression, and raw energy.

In 2003, Savage joined the Oakland School for the Arts as chair of the School of Dance. Over the next two decades, he created, built, and maintained a strong dance program, recognized and respected by other dance institutions for forging well-trained and resilient dancers and human beings.

The depth of Savage’s tough love and care, and the skill of his teaching and mentoring are reflected in the careers of his students who have gone on to dance with the San Francisco Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Janet Jackson, Ariana Grande, and companies across the globe.

Savage lived his life as a tribute to the teachers who had shared their wisdom on art and life with him. With a palpably genuine enthusiasm and desire to bring out the best in people and pass the torch to the next generation, he poured into his students, as his teachers and mentors had into him. His infectious energy, love of life, and generosity of spirit inspired countless souls, both inside and outside the dance studio.

Mark Kitaoka, a photographer hired by Savage in 2012, posted a living eulogy on the dance instructor.

“When I see the self-pride he builds in his students, I am constantly impressed that people like Savage still exist in our ‘meme’ society,” Kitaoka wrote. “The kids he mentors are fiercely loyal to one another, and I’m certain his methods teach each of those kids to put aside social status, race and gender and are replaced by solid loyalty for other souls.

“What Savage contributes to our world cannot be completely summed up in a few meager paragraphs but can be seen in the countless lives of those he has touched. Because of him, our world and the world of the future are both a richer and better place.

Reginald Ray-Savage will forever be missed, remembered, and lovingly quoted. He is survived by his beloved life and artistic partner, Alison Hurley; brothers Lynn and Quintin Ray; mother-in-law Janet Hurley; sisters-in-law Sabine Hurley and Annette Ray; brother-in-law Christophe Dominguez; nieces Mila and Lena Rose Dominguez-Hurley; and countless chosen family and friends.

Oakland Post

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Activism

IN MEMORIAM: William ‘Bill’ Patterson, 94

Bill devoted his life to public service and education. In 1971, he became the founding director for the Peralta Community College Foundation, he also became an administrator for Oakland Parks and Recreation overseeing 23 recreation centers, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland, Lake Merritt, and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.

Published

9 months ago

November 20, 2025

Oakland Post

William "Bill" Patterson, 94. Photo courtesy of the Patterson family.

William “Bill” Patterson, 94, of Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away peacefully on October 21, 2025, at his home in Oakland, CA. He was born on May 19, 1931, to Marie Childress Patterson and William Benjamin Patterson in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Dunbar High School and traveled to Oakland, California, in 1948. William Patterson graduated from San Francisco State University, earning both graduate and undergraduate degrees. He married Euradell “Dell” Patterson in 1961. Bill lovingly took care of his wife, Dell, until she died in 2020.

He served on the boards of Oakland’s Urban Strategies Council, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, and the Oakland Workforce Development Board.

He was a three-term president of the Oakland branch of the NAACP.

Bill was initiated in the Gamma Alpha chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

In 1997 Bill was appointed to the East Bay Utility District Board of Directors. William Patterson was the first African American Board President and served the board for 27 years.

Bill’s impact reached far beyond his various important and impactful positions.

Bill mentored politicians, athletes and young people. Among those he mentored and advised are legends Joe Morgan, Bill Russell, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, and Lionel Wilson to name a few.

He is survived by his son, William David Patterson, and one sister, Sarah Ann Strickland, and a host of other family members and friends.

A celebration of life service will take place at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (Calvin Simmons Theater) on November 21, 2025, at 10 AM.

His services are being livestreamed at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1250167107131991/

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Euradell and William Patterson scholarship fund TBA.

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

IN MEMORIAM: Yancie Taylor Jr., 101

Yancie began his career as a journeyman and foreman in construction, eventually becoming a carpenter and aspiring to become one of the first Black business owners in Downtown Oakland. From 1964-85, Mr. Yanci’s Clothes Hanger was a fixture at 1422 Broadway, and later expanded the family business to El Cerrito Plaza.

Published

9 months ago

October 27, 2025

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

Special to the Post

Yancie Taylor Jr. was born in Lott, Texas, on Feb. 24, 1924, to Mariah Travis and Yancie Taylor Sr. The last of eight siblings, Taylor passed away in Dixon, California, on Oct. 9.

Yancie joined the Army at age 16 and served with the 3161 Quartermaster Service Company during World War II. Prior to his discharge, he married Alberta in 1942.

Together they raised two children, Yancie Eugene III and Mignon Denise, and settled in their first home in West Oakland, California.

After the passing of his wife, Alberta, he continued to be an active community member, attending formals, social events, and outings, often winning Best Dressed while courting his long-time girlfriend, Mrs. Annie Hatchett. Together they enjoyed their retirement, dancing and traveling.

Throughout Yancie’s retirement and golden years, he restored homes and remodeled for family, friends, and fellow elders in the community. He took pride in his humble beginnings in Lott, and whenever able, he returned to the Annual Bailey-Broadus Homecoming Reunions in Texas.

Yancie will be sorely missed but not forgotten. His legacy continues through his children, son, Yancie Taylor III, Mignon Singh, and goddaughter Yvonne Baker and her children Damonday and Trenee Jackson and Latrena Brown; grandchildren, Egypt Guillory, Asya Guillory and Iran Singh; great-grandchildren, Christiana Tolliver, Egypt J. Guillory Jr. (Kayla), Elaysah Guillory(Gamon), Thyler Guillory(Dezire), Niamey Guillory (Kameron), Kennedy Guillory, Zayre Smith and Legend and London Guillory; great-great grandchildren Egypt, Joshua, Eva, Elliana, Jordyn, Jheneya, G’zai and Catalina. He also leaves a cousin, Brenda Frank. He is also survived by his beloved friend Ulysses Brooks and longtime coworker Winky Frederick, along with a host of friends and loved ones.