Joseph David Frankel
May 9,1942-August 31, 2012
Joseph David Frankel, adoring brother, loving husband and companion, attentive care giver, poet, writer, psychotherapist and good friend passed away at the age of 70 Friday night, August 31.David was born in Brooklyn, New York. At 6’4”, he was a powerful athlete, a graceful and formidable basketball player, and a regular on the courts and playgrounds of the metropolitan area. An avid reader and student, he matriculated at Long Island University and was awarded an M.A. from Columbia University.
After six years of working in the Social Service field in New York, David moved to San Francisco in 1973. He drove for the City cab company where he was known as "The Social Worker behind the Wheel," traveling through the city and hitting open mikes along the way. He published a collection of poetry and combined his writing and politics by becoming an active member of the San Francisco Cab Union. As a poet, he was an engaging performer. He commanded the stage, compelling laughter and reflection at hundred's of open mikes. For many years, he performed with Bread and Roses, a non-profit organization founded by Mimi Farina. It offered free, live music, readings, poetry and performances to people who lived in institutions or were isolated from society.
David never met a word he couldn't pun or an idea he wouldn't consider. He was possessed of an extraordinary memory, which had only one flaw. He could not remember a slight. An urban wanderer, he knew and was known at every cafe in San Francisco. He was instrumental at the creation of the San Francisco Poets In The Schools, taking particular joy from every young voice.
In the late 1980’s, he resumed his career as a psychotherapist graduating from the Professional School of Psychology (PSP) with PhD in 1993. In 1997, David began working as a psychologist at the San Francisco Mobile Crises Unit, and in 1999, he became the Clinical Director.
In 2004, he began training at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute and David was recently notified that he would be graduating as a psychoanalyst in June, 2013. He was profoundly dedicated to his patients.
David was an enthusiastic cyclist. He participated in two AIDS rides often calling friends from the road with tales of minor falls and highway markers surpassed. He was a memorable pitcher during a dozen seasons in the San Francisco slow-pitch softball leagues. Baptized into the mythology of 'dem bums...' he converted deeply and forever into the Giant's Faithful, bathing in the glories and miseries of the Orange and Black.
David is survived by his loving wife, Paula Levine, his devoted sister, Leya Moscowitz and brother-in-law, Rabbi Morton Moscowitz, both of Seattle, and the many friends whose lives he touched and enriched. David was predeceased by his beloved nephew, Rabbi Shmully Moscowitz in July, 2012.
David will be memorialized at a service at Sinai Memorial Chapel on the morning of September 7, followed by a procession to the Gan Yarok portion of the Fernwood Cemetary in Mill Valley, California for burial. There will be a future celebration of his life. The family asks that all donations in his memory be made to Doctors without Borders, Bread and Roses or individual charities of choice.