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Inside Bay Area - Ex-Review printer leaves enduring legacy of advocacy
After a career in the print rooms of newspapers that included 13 years at the Oakland Tribune followed by 22 at The Daily Review, Bertt Lependorf stayed involved in daily operations by frequently sending letters to the editor.
"He was ambitious. He was not one to sit on a log; he was always doing something," said Lependorf's son, Barry, 58.
Bertt Lependorf died Monday at age 86 from pneumonia caught while recovering from heart-valve replacement surgery. He leaves his wife of 62 years, Betty-jo; their four adult children, Bruce, Barry, Brenda and Brian; and 11 grandchildren. The Lependorfs gave everyone in their family names that started with B, even their cats and dogs.
After retiring from The Daily Review in 1982, Lependorf continued working in the community through the California Association of the Deaf. He had lost his hearing at age 3 and advocated for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community through-out his life. He was secretary-treasurer of the Hayward Deaf Seniors Group and volunteered twice a week at the Deaf Counseling and Referral Agency, maintaining its files.
"He was always helping somebody," son Brian said.
For 14 years, Lependorf was a governor-appointed member of the California Department of Rehabilitation Appeals Board and a longtime member of Bay Area Rapid Transit Task Force for Access for the Elderly and Handicapped.
He was born in New York City on Sept. 28, 1920, was raised in Brooklyn, learned lip-reading at the N.Y. League for the Hard-of-Hearing and, as he wrote in a 1994 autobiography, "mainstreamed long before the term became a popular fad of the day."
He attended Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., from 1940 to 1944, where for all four years he wrote for the "Buff and Blue" newspaper, and he was senior class secretary. It was there he also met his future wife, Betty-jo Raines from Indiana. While in college, he worked many outside jobs, including his favorite: "The Prince Georgian," a weekly newspaper in Hyattsville, Md.
After college, Lependorf worked at presses in Baltimore and Silver Springs for several months until he was offered a job at a weekly paper in Carson City, Nev. He "had always wanted to be the 'cowboy from Brooklyn,' and jumped at the chance," Lependorf wrote in his biography.
He and Betty-jo married, and after putting up with 110-degree days in Nevada, they moved to the Bay Area, where he found the weather "like natural air conditioning," son Barry said.
The Lependorfs moved onto a large plot for $8,900, on what was then the outskirts of San Lorenzo Village, with views of the Bay. Over the course of 58 years, Bertt kept a garden with many fruit trees and mowed the lawn for neighbors who could not do it themselves.
He worked at the presses at night and earned a teaching credential during the day.
"He was always correcting the headlines, captions, the grammar and punctuation," said Fahim Bukhsh, a printer who worked with Lependorf for 20 years in Hayward. "He was not criticizing, but looking at a better way to write a headline."
Lependorf's career spanned a revolution in printing techniques. He was active for 60 years in the Oakland Typographical Union and held several elected offices.
"He was the keeper of the English language. He knew all about the meanings of words and subtleties of words that basically kept all the news folks honest," said ANG editor Rob Lindquist.
For 11 years before retiring, Lependorf taught general education for students aspiring to gain a GED, as well as edited several manuscripts.
Bukhsh added, "He was a gentleman. A man with knowledge and respect."
Services will be private.
After a career in the print rooms of newspapers that included 13 years at the Oakland Tribune followed by 22 at The Daily Review, Bertt Lependorf stayed involved in daily operations by frequently sending letters to the editor.
"He was ambitious. He was not one to sit on a log; he was always doing something," said Lependorf's son, Barry, 58.
Bertt Lependorf died Monday at age 86 from pneumonia caught while recovering from heart-valve replacement surgery. He leaves his wife of 62 years, Betty-jo; their four adult children, Bruce, Barry, Brenda and Brian; and 11 grandchildren. The Lependorfs gave everyone in their family names that started with B, even their cats and dogs.
After retiring from The Daily Review in 1982, Lependorf continued working in the community through the California Association of the Deaf. He had lost his hearing at age 3 and advocated for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community through-out his life. He was secretary-treasurer of the Hayward Deaf Seniors Group and volunteered twice a week at the Deaf Counseling and Referral Agency, maintaining its files.
"He was always helping somebody," son Brian said.
For 14 years, Lependorf was a governor-appointed member of the California Department of Rehabilitation Appeals Board and a longtime member of Bay Area Rapid Transit Task Force for Access for the Elderly and Handicapped.
He was born in New York City on Sept. 28, 1920, was raised in Brooklyn, learned lip-reading at the N.Y. League for the Hard-of-Hearing and, as he wrote in a 1994 autobiography, "mainstreamed long before the term became a popular fad of the day."
He attended Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., from 1940 to 1944, where for all four years he wrote for the "Buff and Blue" newspaper, and he was senior class secretary. It was there he also met his future wife, Betty-jo Raines from Indiana. While in college, he worked many outside jobs, including his favorite: "The Prince Georgian," a weekly newspaper in Hyattsville, Md.
After college, Lependorf worked at presses in Baltimore and Silver Springs for several months until he was offered a job at a weekly paper in Carson City, Nev. He "had always wanted to be the 'cowboy from Brooklyn,' and jumped at the chance," Lependorf wrote in his biography.
He and Betty-jo married, and after putting up with 110-degree days in Nevada, they moved to the Bay Area, where he found the weather "like natural air conditioning," son Barry said.
The Lependorfs moved onto a large plot for $8,900, on what was then the outskirts of San Lorenzo Village, with views of the Bay. Over the course of 58 years, Bertt kept a garden with many fruit trees and mowed the lawn for neighbors who could not do it themselves.
He worked at the presses at night and earned a teaching credential during the day.
"He was always correcting the headlines, captions, the grammar and punctuation," said Fahim Bukhsh, a printer who worked with Lependorf for 20 years in Hayward. "He was not criticizing, but looking at a better way to write a headline."
Lependorf's career spanned a revolution in printing techniques. He was active for 60 years in the Oakland Typographical Union and held several elected offices.
"He was the keeper of the English language. He knew all about the meanings of words and subtleties of words that basically kept all the news folks honest," said ANG editor Rob Lindquist.
For 11 years before retiring, Lependorf taught general education for students aspiring to gain a GED, as well as edited several manuscripts.
Bukhsh added, "He was a gentleman. A man with knowledge and respect."
Services will be private.