Growing up in Queens, attending Andrew Jackson High School and NYU, Daniel Druckerman knew first hand the importance of a good education and the value of books and libraries.  Moving west, Dan was a graduate student at UC Berkeley, earning a Masters degree in Paleontology in 1961.

Dan's connection to book collections expanded when he and his then partner John Liddell re-opened a small book store: The Cottage Book Shop in San Rafael, California, in 1994. The Druckerman/Liddell Limited Partnership led to Dan's generous estate plan.

 

The Cottage Book Shop was a treasured local resource: a place to find well-chosen gems of literature and to make special requests in the days before online searching and ordering. The Shop even had its own spider monkey. That is, until a woman with red hair walked in the door.

It seems that Lulu, who lived in a cage above an aisle in the Shop, was attracted to the red hair of this woman, a local librarian, when she had entered the Fourth Street store. So much so that Lulu grabbed her hair and wouldn’t let go.

“There was a little difficulty in removing the librarian’s hair from the monkey’s hand,” recalled Dan. “It was a little uncontrollable,” Druckerman said of Lulu (who was actually a he and not a she, as they had thought). And so Liddell took the animal home and later gave it away to a rancher.

As for the librarian whose hair Lulu yanked?  “She didn’t sue us, which was very nice of her,” Druckerman said with a laugh. The monkey business, he said, taught them a valuable lesson: “It was kind of a tip-off that monkeys and bookstores don’t go together.”

 

Daniel, a Mill Valley resident for over half a century and neighbor of two Library Foundation Board Members, often attended The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon. Although reserved in style, Dan often spoke of "enjoying the good life, (and) living a happy, carefree retirement without any stress.” Dan had a deep love and appreciation of classical music, especially opera. He was a regular at the San Francisco Symphony and other performances, and followed his passion at home with his piano and his treasured classical record collection.

In 2001, Daniel helped initiate Monday Night at the Movies at the Mill Valley Public Library. The inaugural series, “Three Films About the Japanese American Experience,” showcased the work of Bay Area filmmakers (who were also present at the screenings). In 2009, Dan introduced one of his favorites: “Dr. No” staring Sean Connery, in the Library Creekside Room. The programs ran for about 15 years and were known for the lively discussions by the California Public Library Advocates after the screenings.

In appreciation of the vital role that libraries play, and Dan's appreciation for our own Mill Valley Public Library, Daniel Druckerman designated the Mill Valley Library Foundation as one of the key beneficiaries of his personal estate plan.

Dan Druckerman's generous Legacy will help ensure that the Mill Valley Library Foundation will continue to help fund programs to make the dreams and aspirations of all library patrons a reality for generations to come.

Daniel J Druckerman is survived by his partner, Masaki Tsuru.

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