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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

October/November 2007

In Memoriam:
Beloved Bike Activist Alexander Zuckermann Mourned (1921-2007)

Alex Zuckermann (Photo: Noah Berger)

The Alexander Zuckermann Bicycle-Pedestrian Path will run along the southern edge of the new Bay Bridge East Span, which is now under construction. (Rendering: Caltrans)

The Bay Area bicycle community lost one of its most passionate activists when Alexander Zuckermann passed away on August 5 at the age of 86. He fought for more than 30 years to make the Bay Area more bicycle-friendly and rode thousands of miles annually on his bike.

Born in Berlin in 1921, Zuckermann came to the United States in 1938, migrating to the Bay Area where he earned a master’s degree in city planning from U.C. Berkeley and worked for the city of Oakland as a city planner. He combined a love of recreational bicycling with his planning expertise to earn access for bicyclists to various modes of public transit, including BART and AC Transit, and helped advocate for a bike path around Lake Merritt and across the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. He founded the East Bay Bicycle Coalition in 1972 and co-founded the Regional Bicycle Advocacy Coalition in 1985, which morphed into the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition.

Zuckermann also was a member of MTC’s Advisory Council and received a Certificate of Award from MTC in 1991 “for two decades of dedication to bicycle transportation issues.”

“Alex was great to work with because he was so passionate, yet very respectful, and he knew how to get things done,” said Doug Kimsey, MTC planning director.

He also received a Golden Wheel Award from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition in 2004.

Robert Raburn, executive director of EBBC, knew Zuckermann for 20 years and remembers that he always showed up for meetings wearing a suit and tie — on his bicycle. Short in stature but big on getting results, he had a wiry build and full head of white hair and exuded energy and stamina, taking his bike downhill at full speed, even faster than Raburn, who was 30 years younger.

“Alex’s impact on access to public transit was felt throughout the country,” said Raburn, “Overall, he stood for BART, bridges and bike paths. In the mid-‘90s, the only line on any map representing any bike path was for the Bay Trail. We didn’t have plans, funding or access. Alex’s planning background gave him the tools to see what we had to do. Working methodically, we made tremendous progress in planning our own maps, and they served as a template for planning regionwide efforts for bicyclists.”

As a tribute to Zuckermann’s well-organized and persistent efforts, the state Legislature named the bike path on the new East Span of the Bay Bridge after him, citing him as “a tireless and articulate advocate in this process for bicycle and pedestrian access to the bridge.” The Alexander Zuckermann Bicycle-Pedestrian Path, currently under construction, is due to open in 2013.

For additional information about Zuckermann, visit www.alexZhome.com.

— Georgia Lambert

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