Lasting Memories

Elizabeth Meltzer
1939-Sept. 29, 2008
Palo Alto, California

Elizabeth (Betty) Meltzer, 69, died peacefully at her Palo Alto home Sept. 29, 2008, following a six-year battle with cancer.

Meltzer was perhaps best known in Palo Alto for her environmental efforts, including being a key organizer of the "Dream of a Thousand Trees" for El Camino Real in Palo Alto, complementing a similar effort in Menlo Park.

"Education was one of Betty's passions," her husband, Bob Meltzer, recalls of her life. She taught in the Palo Alto school district for five years, trained blind people how to read and for many years tutored elementary-school students who had reading disabilities. She was the daughter of Anna Rose and Sam Taylor.

She was born in San Francisco in 1939 and moved to Palo Alto in 1948, where she attended Palo Alto High School. She graduated from Smith College in 1960 and received her masters degree in education from Stanford University in 1961.

She was a graduate of the first class in l987 of the "Leadership Palo Alto" (later Leadership Midpenninsula) program designed to train both citizens and government employees on how to contribute to local civic betterment. She was a co-founder with Ellen Wyman of Palo Alto Tomorrow, an organization that successfully promoted limitations on excessive density of development in downtown Palo Alto.

She served on the board of the former Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation (PCCF), now ACTERRA, and was especially active in creating the Business Environmental Network, which gave awards to businesses who were environmentally outstanding. She was co-founder with Susan Rosenberg of the Trees for El Camino Project (now a Canopy project). She was a member of the Palo Alto Garden Club and the Palo Alto Women's Club.

She is survived by Bob Meltzer, her husband of 44 years, her two daughters who live locally: Lauren Meltzer Richardson (and husband Kevin and granddaughter Anna); and Didi Engel (and husband Greg and grandsons Sam and Bradley); and two sisters, Jane McCoy of Pebble Beach, Calif. and Peggy Gunton of Bethlehem, Penn.