Henry K. Evers, businessman and community leader, passed away in his home on San Francisco’s Russian Hill on April 17. He was born January 14, 1921 in San Francisco into a family prominent in local mercantile and professional life. His parents were Albert J. Evers, an architect, and Sepha P. Evers, a pioneer conservationist. Henry lived his entire life in the Bay Area – except for a brief time in graduate school and during his service in World War II.
He grew up in Marin County where he attended Ross Grammar School, Tamalpias School, and Tamalpias High School. He graduated early from high school and went to the fifth World Scout Jamboree in Vogelenzang, the Netherlands, in the summer of 1937. Afterwards, he spent a year bicycling around Europe during same year as the Munich Conference and Adolf Hitler’s annexation of Austria. Henry then went to the University of California at Berkeley, where he was the president of the Chi Phi fraternity and played rugby. He graduated in 1942 and immediately entered the U.S. Army, He married Emily Stout on Feb. 20,1943 and was deployed overseas shortly thereafter. During the war, Henry served mostly in Signal Corps intelligence in North Africa and Italy where he rose to the rank of captain while working on breaking German secret codes. After the war, he earned a business degree at Harvard Business School.
He initially worked for the family business, the Dohrmann Commercial Company, and then went on to become an investment manager with Stephenson & Evers. He then joined Berry, Hartell, Evers, & Osborne (now Osborne Partners Capital Management) where for a while his firm was part of Northern Trust Bank; during that time, Henry was the bank’s top-performing investment manager.
Henry was active in Bay Area civic and community affairs. He participated in the Guardsman and helped KQED television. He served on the boards of directors of Edgewood Home, the San Francisco Legal Aid Society, the El Dorado Foundation, and the World Affairs Council of Northern California. He was board president of the Friends of the Bancroft Library and the Consortium of San Francisco Colleges.
He was also a member of the Commonwealth Club of California, the Bohemian Club, the French Club, and two discussion clubs—the Codgers of San Francisco and the Chit Chat Club. He was an officer of the Codgers, and he and his brother William D. Evers, were domino champions of the Bohemian Club.
He is remembered by family and friends as a respected financial adviser, a devastating domino player, a man smart and wise about civic affairs, an ardent maker of puns, a world traveler, a man who enjoyed country life in Sonoma County, and a loving husband and father.
Henry is survived by his wife of 69 years, Emily of San Francisco, his son Al Evers of Oakland, his daughter Nancy Kirwan of Los Angeles, his son Williamson of Laguna Niguel (Calif.), his brother William of San Francisco and his sister Elizabeth Griffinger of San Francisco. He is also survived by eight grandchildren and step-grandchildren and by nine great-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.
A reception celebrating his life his life will be held at a future date and donations in his name can be made to the Bancroft Library or the Sonoma Land Trust.
