Obituaries Obituaries (December 05, 2001)

Dene Zahn

Insurance executive, gallery owner @texlt: Dene Walter Zahn, who retired from the insurance business to establish the Zahn Galleries in Menlo Park and Palm Springs, died November 20 at his home in Atherton. He was 86.

An Atherton resident since 1956, Mr. Zahn was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois where he was a member of Zeta Psi Alpha Epsilon, and the golf and track teams.

He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, flying missions in the North Atlantic and South Pacific. He also served as a pilot for military and civilian dignitaries, among them First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, whom he flew to Christmas Island to celebrate Thanksgiving with the troops.

After the war, Mr. Zahn lived on Maui for five years, where he taught elementary school until he joined Franklin Life Insurance Co.

Moving to California, he established his own insurance agency in San Mateo in 1956. He and a group of associates built the Villa Chartier Hotel on the site of his original insurance office.

During the time he was studying business law at Stanford University, Mr. Zahn began collecting art. Eventually he retired from the insurance business and opened the Zahn Galleries, which have since closed. Mr. Zahn donated a number of paintings by his favorite artist, Robert Wood, which hang in the Krannert Art Museum, Harker Hall and the Chancellor's offices at the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana.

An avid golfer, Mr. Zahn was National Junior Amateur champion when he was 16 and played golf courses all over the world. He was a member of Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club since 1961, and belonged to the Desert Island Golf and Country Club in Rancho Mirage and Del Rio Country Club in Modesto. He was a member of the First Church of Christ Scientist, Menlo Park, and the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Mr. Zahn is survived by his wife of 32 years, Marie; son Tim Cookston of Santa Rosa; daughter Lynne Meyer of Morgan Hill; sister Ara Pedote of Phoenix; father-in-law John La Barbera; and one granddaughter.

Contributions may be made to First Church of Christ Scientist, Menlo Park; the Sequoia Hospital Foundation; or the University of Illinois Foundation, Harker Hall, 224 Illini Union, 1305 W. Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61810.

Susan May Pitt

Portola Valley business owner

Susan May Pitt, an owner of S.P. McClenahan Co. of Portola Valley for 40 years, died in Mountain View on November 24. She was 58.

Mrs. Pitt was a graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School and attended San Jose State University. She handled the business side of the family-owned tree service and pest control company with her brother Jim McClenahan and his son John. S.P. McClenahan Co., founded in San Francisco in 1911 by Mrs. Pitt's grandfather, was the first arboricultural firm west of the Mississippi. The company has been located in Portola Valley since 1968.

She is survived by her husband, George Pitt of Mountain View; her son Bill Pitt of Mountain View; her daughter Laurie Toreson of Carson City, Nevada; her mother Edna McClenahan of Menlo Park; her siblings, Maggie Bortz of Oregon and Jim McClenahan of Menlo Park; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service was held at Valley Presbyterian Church, with arrangements by Roller, Hapgood and Tinney.

The family prefers that memorial donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 2065 West El Camino Real, Suite C, Mountain View, CA 94040 or to the American Institute for Cancer Research, Washington, D.C. 20070-2012.