Ann Gelber Davidson 1938 - 2024

Ann Davidson was more of a San Francisco Bay Area original, than just San Francisco.

She was a scholar, a mother, a celebrated author, and my cousin.  In her fifties, she was diagnosed with cancer while at the same time her husband, a distinguished Stanford professor, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  Yet somehow, she found the fortitude to drive herself to chemotherapy appointments, while dealing with a loved one who had the greatest of minds, but quickly degenerated.

To channel this challenge, she wrote Alzheimer's: A Love Story, which became the one glimmer of hope for who-knows-how many millions of families dealing with this most pernicious ailment.  It touched so many people, she travelled to many countries lecturing and helping Alzheimer's families and loved ones learn how to cope with its deleterious effects.

Personally, she always made herself available to me when I moved to San Francisco to go to college.  Over the years I cherished our visits and family gatherings.  Alas, and upon retrospect, those visits should have been more frequent.    I always enjoyed our free exchanges of ideas, but she became a real inspiration to me when I attempted to write a book about my life as a hotel concierge in San Francisco: The celebrity encounters, the crazy requests, and the unusual situations one finds themselves in behind a concierge desk.

She took a ramshackle text (a ganglia of a million disparate nerve ending-sentences and paragraphs), deconstructed it, then made something recognizable as a narrative.  I was grateful to have a published author edit my book, but in her inimitable style she apologized to ME for taking so long to get it back.

She passed away on November 13th, surrounded by family and music. 

SFHotelstories would never have existed if it was not for her gentle touch.

Thank you Ann Davidson for being an integral part of my life.  It was a pleasure and honor to know you.