Chip Isaac

Chip Isaac, age 65, passed away on July 31, 2022, in San Francisco in the company of his wife, Angela Palermo, family members and the wonderful, caring staff at UCSF. He died from Multiple Myeloma. Chip lived an exuberant life with love, optimism, and humor. He showed a kind, generous and trusting spirit towards everyone he encountered. Clarence (Chip) Albert Isaac III, was born on October 3, 1956 in Maplewood, New Jersey to Blanche Isaac Perlman (nee Kalmanoff) and Clarence (Clancy) Isaac Jr. A software engineer, Chip was employed at IBM and Sirius Computer Solutions for nearly 40 years. He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. Chip loved San Francisco, where he moved in the early 1980s. There he met his wife with whom he built a beautiful life marked by his engagement in the community, with friends and time spent in many outdoor activities and sports. Chip began volunteering at the Zen Hospice Project and the Shanti Project in the early 80s at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He was active for many years cooking and caring for residents. He also served as a big brother in the SF Big Brothers Big Sisters program. He and his little brother Michael Torrey maintained a lifelong relationship, which continued until his death. For over 10 years, Chip led a popular City Guides tour of the Haight Ashbury neighborhood where he and Angela resided in one of the City's most wonderfully painted Victorians. Accompanied by his well-crafted sound track of The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin, tourists were vividly drawn into Chip's homage to the neighborhood he loved, the era of the Hippies and the evolution of San Francisco's counter culture. Chip also regularly distributed food to people without shelter who gathered on the streets of the Haight neighborhood. Throughout the two years of his illness before passing, Chip displayed the same courage, optimism and humor that made him the exceptional person loved so dearly by his family, friends and neighbors over the years. He will be greatly missed. In addition to his loving wife, Angela, Chip is survived by his sisters, Qatana Samanen (Jim), Nancy Isaac (Harvey Grossman); his nephews, Daniel Samanen, Matthew Grossman, Aidan Palermo and Christopher Simpson Palermo; his cousin Candice Wong Kalmanoff and her daughters, Triana and Annalise; his mother-in-law, Louella Palermo and brothers-in-law, Joseph and Greg Palermo. A party to celebrate Chip will be held on January 7 (see Events page). Donations in his memory may be made to Bay Area Border Relief "The Chip Isaac Memorial Fund". Chip's very dear friend Terry Sprague is one of the founders of Bay Area Border Relief and has been doing amazing work supporting families at the border.