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A memorial service for Charles Derwin is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Town Center Community Hall at 765 Portola Road in Portola Valley. The family is asking for friends and relatives to arrive before 10:45 a.m.
Charles Theophilus Derwin — Charlie to those who knew him — was in his final year of studies at the University of San Francisco and working toward a career of teaching in middle school at the time of his death, his mother Maryann Moise Derwin said.
Hip hop — both writing and performing — was one of Mr. Derwin’s avocations, as was basketball as a player and as a coach, said Ms. Derwin, the recently elected mayor of Portola Valley.
Mr. Derwin, 23, was killed in a solo car crash on Portola Road early Sunday morning, Dec. 27.
Charlie Derwin “was generous to a fault and devoted to social justice,” his mother said in an email. “He had a unique wit, he was thoughtful, kind, sensitive, a deep philosophical thinker and beloved by his friends.”
Responding to the escalating cost of living in San Francisco, for example, Mr. Derwin asked his mother about buying a house in the city and renting it at prices affordable to working-class people.
He had given $1,000 to a friend going to jail whose mother couldn’t pay her rent, Ms. Derwin said, and another $1,000 to a friend wanting to start a business. “He gave away all this money (and mine) to friends in need,” she said. “A week before he died, he asked me to donate to a charity that provides musical instruments to children at risk.”
Mr. Derwin attended Portola Valley schools — Ormondale Elementary and Corte Madera Middle School — and graduated from high school at Stansbury Academy in Magna, Utah, his mother said.
His friends described him as genuine, and someone who had a profound influence on their lives, she said.
“Charlie is a one-of-a-kind human being,” said his friend Sahil Khanna in a letter to Ms. Derwin, which she quoted from in her email to the Almanac. “Frankly he’s the most interesting person I ever encountered in my life. … He’s such a rare individual and I will forever cherish the amazing times that I had with him and the impact that he had on the person I am today.”
Comfort from Mr. Derwin’s friends, relatives and the local community “has helped to blunt the pain and reminded me of the innate goodness of people,” Ms. Derwin said. “I have also seen Charlie through the eyes of his friends and heard story after story of the amazing impact he has had on their lives. So while I know the hole in my heart will never quite heal, I take solace in the knowledge that in his short 23 years, he lifted up the lives of so many.”
The accident
After receiving a 911 call at about 12:20 a.m. on Dec. 27 from a resident who reported hearing a collision, firefighters arrived minutes later to find a vehicle engulfed in flames and sitting in the middle of the road in the vicinity of 884 Portola Road, Battalion Chief Kevin Butler said.
“Fire crews quickly extinguished the fire but were unable to save the driver, who had succumbed to injuries from the accident,” Fire Marshal Denise Enea said in statement.
Medics pronounced Mr. Derwin dead at the scene, Mr. Butler said. He was the car’s only occupant.
A team from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident.
Investigators described the accident as a high-impact collision involving a tree and a road sign, resulting in severe damage to the front end of the car, Ms. Enea said.
Family
Mr. Derwin is survived by his mother; his father, Douglas Derwin of San Francisco; his brother, Will Derwin of Washington, D.C.; his uncles, Dan Derwin of San Francisco and George Vanderhoof of Sacramento; his aunt, Nanno Geller of Sacramento; and many cousins.