Samuel E. Kinsley ’46 died on October 10, 2015, in Berkeley, California.
(The following was provided by The Sacramento Bee on January 1, 2016)
Sam was the youngest of three children born to Maurice and Rebecca (nee Hoffmann) Kinsley. Sam graduated from Everett MA high school at the age of fifteen, and entered the Navy’s V-12 Officer program at Bates College, at the ripe age of seventeen. He was assigned to LST-847 and served in the Pacific until the end of WWII, eventually becoming the commanding officer for a brief period. After the war, he finished his undergraduate degree at Bowdoin College and continued on to earn a master’s degree in chemistry from Tufts University. He was employed with General Foods for over twenty-five years in product development, shepherding numerous products to market. Sam would go on to hold executive positions at Faygo Beverages, and Graff Beverages before finishing his business career at Kloppenberg, Switzer and Teich – until he retired to San Francisco where he could satisfy his passion for sailing around the San Francisco Bay. Never one to sit still – and bored with retirement – at the ripe age of 70 he went back to school and earned his teaching credentials. He passionately taught seventh grade science at Bancroft Middle School in San Leandro – claiming that teaching was more satisfying than anything he had ever done in business. Health issues forced his permanent retirement at age 82. He is survived by his beloved wife, Georgia Harbeck, daughters Jill (Greg Smith) Kinsley, Martha (Alan) Weissbaum, step-children Cheryl (Jeff) Romuald, Carin (David Capelo) Lehnert, Bill (Christie Buschmann) Lehnert and Barbra (Brian) Perry and his treasured grandchildren: Samuel, Benjamin and Joshua Robison, Matthew and Nicholas Romuald, Elizabeth and August Lehnert and Will and Molly Perry. Sam was a kind, loving, generous man who was always quick with a smile and a laugh. He will be greatly missed!