Bernard Robert Tanner
June 8, 1924-May 22, 2013
Los Gatos, California

Bernard (?Barney?) Tanner, 88, former long-time resident of Palo Alto, passed away on May 22 at The Los Gatos Meadows, where he had been an active resident since 2001. Barney grew up in Kansas City, Miss., son of Lear and Hazel Tanner. He was an active Eagle Boy Scout in his youth and was a life-long dedicated bird-watcher.

Barney is survived by his four sons, Bruce (Santa Cruz, Calif.), Douglas (New York, N.Y.), Gavin (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Stuart (Sunnyvale, Calif.), his daughter-in-law, Carol Scilacci Tanner (New York, N.Y.) and by his three granddaughters, Lauren, Wynn and Leigh.

Barney served in the Army Air Corp during WWII, where he was a meteorologist in the South Pacific Theatre. He graduated from Stanford in English Literature in 1948 and became a high school teacher in the Palo Alto School District, where he taught for over 30 years, including many years as head of the English Department at Cubberley High School. He was active for more than 20 years in the amateur dramatics in Palo Alto with the Palo Alto Players and the Palo Alto Children?s Theatre. Barney was a John Hay Fellow at Columbia University in 1962 and the 1972 recipient of the National College of Teachers of English Teacher of the Year Award. After retiring from teaching, he worked at LSI Logic in Silicon Valley for 8 years as a technical writer. He had a lifelong passion for F. Scott Fitzgerald?s The Great Gatsby, and wrote two books on the subject, including "Joycean Elements in F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: Aspects of Burlesque, Shadowing, Dichotomies and Doubling" (2007, AcademicaPress, LLC).

Tags: veteran, teacher/educator