Remembering Wally Breitman
By Ken Brown
Wally Breitman was a good friend. His passing leaves a large void in Sonoma.
He was born on September 22, 1939, just outside of New York City in Westchester County. He attended Briarcliff High School, and received his Masters Degree from New York University, majoring in English, Philosophy and American Civilization. He put his education to excellent use in many jobs and careers. He taught at NYU, leading training sessions in English as a Second Language, as an administrator for four teacher trainings, and was the Director of the Reading Institute. His first wife Ella Lurie Kreitman was a ‘Red Diaper’ baby and they moved to San Jose, California in the fall of 1968. He became the Director of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies at San Jose State College assisting teachers obtain Federal, State and private foundation grants.
In 1973 he began a journey as the producer of an international newsletter on grants and contracts, a chef, serving on the Boards of Santa Clara County Information and Referral and Pathway Society, a social-setting drug rehabilitation program. He held various positions with Avantek, Inc. and Cymer Inc. in San Diego. He traveled the world extensively meeting a wide range of personnel executives and managers, and retired in 2003. Now married to Monica Wohlford, in May, 2000, they bought a home in the Diamond A subdivision in 2001, and began living here full time in 2003. Wally became active in Sonoma life as a founding member of the Sonoma Classical Music Society, responsible for booking and scheduling artists.
Wally loved all kinds of music and found a home with Sonoma’s local community radio station KSVY in 2004. He quickly mastered the technical aspects of running a show and had always been a real talker. He hosted the Classical Matinee, Breakfast on Broadway, Wednesday Night Classics, Sonoma Sunrise, Sunday Concert and co hosting the Monday Morning Show. Wally had an enormous collection of all types of music ranging from classical to rock ’n’ roll and loved sharing it with Sonoma citizens. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 2006 and began his love of being a Roman Catholic with the St. Francis Solano Parish. He focused on the RICA Program, helping folks entering the Church, enjoyed teaching the Gospels of St. John and classes on Catholic Social Justice and the History of the Church. Wally was a faithful servant of the Church.
Wally truly loved fine food, cooking, international travel, opera, intense conversation, fine wine, and all kinds of music. Wally was an animal person and had long relationships with dogs. He also relished ‘mucking’ out the stables for his wife Monica’s horses.
Wally passed after a long and valiant battle with heart disease. He was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife Ella Lurie Breitman. He is survived by his wife Monica, his daughters Catherine Cormier and Sasha Breitman, his son-in-law Mark Cormier, and his grandchildren Josephine and Samuel Cormier.
Everyone is welcome to a Memorial Mass at St. Francis Solano Church, 469 Third Street West, Sonoma on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at 11 a.m., with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution to Pets Lifeline.
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I worked with Wally at Walker Interactive in the 90’s and told several people over the years that I loved and respected his vision for an HR department. I have yet to meet an equal. I went online to see how he was doing and sorry to see that I missed him. He was a good man.