Joseph N. Ghirardelli, grandson of the founder of the famous chocolate company and who as a young "clubman" made headlines with almost every courtship, died yesterday in a Walnut Creek hospital. He was 81 and had been ill for three years. Mr. Ghirardelli's only connection with the family firm was a position on the board of directors. He concentrated his professional efforts in the insurance business, in which he worked, except for a World War I era fling at prune farming in Cupertino, until retirement about 10 years ago.
Born in Oakland, he lived most of his life in the East Bay, much of it in Walnut Creek. He and his wife, Ferol, resided at 1100 Oakmont Dr., Walnut Creek. Fun loving Mr. Ghirardelli was known for his levity, ad hoc musical skills, and energetic singing. "The sweet singer of Cupertino. The man who put the wrinkle in the prune," magazine writer Robert Welles Ritchie said of him on Mr. Ghirardelli's return to California from a gay immersion in the night life of Paris in the 1920's.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. George Washington Baker, Jr., of San Francisco. He was a member of the Oakland Elks Lodge No. 171, the Family Club of San Francisco, the Athenian-Nile Club of Oakland, and the Round Hill Country Club.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Garden Chapel of Hull's Walnut Creek Funeral Home, 1139 Saranap Ave. off Boulevard Way in Walnut Creek. The family prefers contributions be to the Rossmoor Residents Scholarship Fund. Harvey T. Ghirafdelli, another grandson of the chocolate firm founder, died Nov. 30.
Bill #47160704 provided the transcription from The San Francisco Examiner published in San Francisco, California on Dec 19, 1967, Page 47
Born in Oakland, he lived most of his life in the East Bay, much of it in Walnut Creek. He and his wife, Ferol, resided at 1100 Oakmont Dr., Walnut Creek. Fun loving Mr. Ghirardelli was known for his levity, ad hoc musical skills, and energetic singing. "The sweet singer of Cupertino. The man who put the wrinkle in the prune," magazine writer Robert Welles Ritchie said of him on Mr. Ghirardelli's return to California from a gay immersion in the night life of Paris in the 1920's.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. George Washington Baker, Jr., of San Francisco. He was a member of the Oakland Elks Lodge No. 171, the Family Club of San Francisco, the Athenian-Nile Club of Oakland, and the Round Hill Country Club.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Garden Chapel of Hull's Walnut Creek Funeral Home, 1139 Saranap Ave. off Boulevard Way in Walnut Creek. The family prefers contributions be to the Rossmoor Residents Scholarship Fund. Harvey T. Ghirafdelli, another grandson of the chocolate firm founder, died Nov. 30.
Bill #47160704 provided the transcription from The San Francisco Examiner published in San Francisco, California on Dec 19, 1967, Page 47
Joseph N. Ghirardelli, grandson of the founder of the famous chocolate company and who as a young "clubman" made headlines with almost every courtship, died yesterday in a Walnut Creek hospital. He was 81 and had been ill for three years. Mr. Ghirardelli's only connection with the family firm was a position on the board of directors. He concentrated his professional efforts in the insurance business, in which he worked, except for a World War I era fling at prune farming in Cupertino, until retirement about 10 years ago.
Born in Oakland, he lived most of his life in the East Bay, much of it in Walnut Creek. He and his wife, Ferol, resided at 1100 Oakmont Dr., Walnut Creek. Fun loving Mr. Ghirardelli was known for his levity, ad hoc musical skills, and energetic singing. "The sweet singer of Cupertino. The man who put the wrinkle in the prune," magazine writer Robert Welles Ritchie said of him on Mr. Ghirardelli's return to California from a gay immersion in the night life of Paris in the 1920's.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. George Washington Baker, Jr., of San Francisco. He was a member of the Oakland Elks Lodge No. 171, the Family Club of San Francisco, the Athenian-Nile Club of Oakland, and the Round Hill Country Club.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Garden Chapel of Hull's Walnut Creek Funeral Home, 1139 Saranap Ave. off Boulevard Way in Walnut Creek. The family prefers contributions be to the Rossmoor Residents Scholarship Fund. Harvey T. Ghirafdelli, another grandson of the chocolate firm founder, died Nov. 30.
Bill #47160704 provided the transcription from The San Francisco Examiner published in San Francisco, California on Dec 19, 1967, Page 47
Born in Oakland, he lived most of his life in the East Bay, much of it in Walnut Creek. He and his wife, Ferol, resided at 1100 Oakmont Dr., Walnut Creek. Fun loving Mr. Ghirardelli was known for his levity, ad hoc musical skills, and energetic singing. "The sweet singer of Cupertino. The man who put the wrinkle in the prune," magazine writer Robert Welles Ritchie said of him on Mr. Ghirardelli's return to California from a gay immersion in the night life of Paris in the 1920's.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. George Washington Baker, Jr., of San Francisco. He was a member of the Oakland Elks Lodge No. 171, the Family Club of San Francisco, the Athenian-Nile Club of Oakland, and the Round Hill Country Club.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Garden Chapel of Hull's Walnut Creek Funeral Home, 1139 Saranap Ave. off Boulevard Way in Walnut Creek. The family prefers contributions be to the Rossmoor Residents Scholarship Fund. Harvey T. Ghirafdelli, another grandson of the chocolate firm founder, died Nov. 30.
Bill #47160704 provided the transcription from The San Francisco Examiner published in San Francisco, California on Dec 19, 1967, Page 47
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