Carol Singer Peltz, a two-term Sausalito mayor, passed away on Jan. 7. She was 82.
Mrs. Peltz was a fourth-generation San Franciscan. Raised by a single mother (Carol Ackerman Singer), Mrs. Peltz graduated from Katherine Delmar Burke School and went on to Stanford University, where she earned a degree in French. After obtaining a teaching credential at U.C. Berkeley, she taught sixth grade at the John Swett School in San Francisco. In coordination with the NAACP, Mrs. Peltz formed and ran a mentoring and private-school-placement program for gifted African American students. She was particularly proud of one of her students who ultimately obtained a PhD in astrophysics from her alma mater.
Mrs. Peltz’s family has deep roots in San Francisco. Her great grandfather, Charles Ackerman, and grandfather, Irving Ackerman—both San Francisco attorneys—founded, built, and ran a circuit of vaudeville and motion-picture theaters from San Francisco to Los Angeles as well as the Chutes Amusement Park in San Francisco.
After her 1963 marriage to Dr. Morris Peltz, a prominent psychoanalyst, the couple moved to Sausalito, where they began raising a family and where Mrs. Peltz commenced decades of local activism. In 1979, Mrs. Peltz became the first woman elected to the Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District Board of Directors. She went on to serve 8 years on the Sausalito City Council, including 2 terms as Mayor: from 1982-1984 and again from 1986-1987.
Mayor Peltz launched Sausalito’s first curbside recycling program, championed public art, and fought to protect the city’s open spaces, undeveloped shoreline, Bay waters and wildlife, and historic character. Accompanying her to all council meetings was Charlie, the family’s floppy, little, black dog.
“I’m a great talker,” Mrs. Peltz once confided to a journalist. And not only in English. One July day in 1983, she led a visiting Zairian dignitary on a two-hour tour of Sausalito—all in French. As the two convivially discussed a range of municipal concerns, a U.S. State Department interpreter trailed silently behind.
Mrs. Peltz adored art, “gorgeous,” simple meals, hiking with family and friends in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, hosting dinner parties, traveling with her husband and attending performances together, and fighting hard for what she thought was right. She is loved and will be greatly missed by her three children, four grandchildren, and many friends. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust.
She also was a founding member of the Marin Women’s Political Action Committee and deeply involved in Marin politics and environmental issues.
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