Gerstley, Elizabeth Lilienthal

Biographical Information

James Mack Gerstley (1907-2007) was born in London to James Gerstley and Adele Mack. The Gerstle(y) family can be traced to Ichenhausen, Germany, where the oldest identifiable ancestor appears to be Abraham Gerstle (1740-1796). Abraham's son, Isak Michael Gerstle (1787-1851) married Sara Sofie Weil and had seven children: Abraham, Karoline, Sophie, Handele, Löb, Jette, and Moritz. Löb Gerstle eventually moved to San Francisco, changed his name to Lewis, and became the patriarch of the Bay Area branch of the Gerstle family. Lewis married Hannah Greenebaum in 1858 and played key roles in several successful business enterprises, including the Alaska Commercial Company. Moritz, Lewis' brother, moved to London, where he changed his first name to Maurice and his last name to Gerstley. Maurice was a successful "fancy goods" wholesaler until his death in 1900. Maurice and his wife Paulina (Cohn) had four children: Sophia, Frederick Julius, James, and Louisa Paulina. James, born in 1867 (died 1955), was to be the last of the English Gerstleys. James Gerstley Sr. worked for Redwood and Sons, a chemical firm specializing in food preservatives. Borax or boron was an important ingredient in their enterprise. In 1895, Lewis Gerstle of San Francisco arranged a meeting with Redwood and Sons and a Bay Area company called Pacific Coast Borax. This meeting led to a merger between the companies. In 1904, James Gerstley Sr. married Adele Hannah Mack, a granddaughter of Lewis Gerstle. The company merger and the marriage cemented the links between the San Francisco and London branches of the family.

The Mack family originates in Reckendorf, Bavaria. Abraham Mack (1775-1857) and his wife Luala (1777-1831) had a son named Lawrence in 1819. Lawrence immigrated to New York in 1836. There he met and married Miriam Massenbacher in 1849 and together they had nine children. In 1880, Lawrence and Miriam and most of their children moved to San Francisco. One of the Mack children, Adolph, married Clara Gerstle (born in Sacramento to Lewis and Hannah Gerstle in 1861). Adolph and Clara were the parents of Edith Miriam (1883-1963), Harold Lewis (b. 1884), and Adele Mack (b. 1886-1973).

James Mack Gerstley, son of James Gerstley Sr. and Adele Mack, grew up in London and attended Cambridge University. He came to San Francisco in 1929 and worked initially for the Great Western Electric Company. Shortly after arriving in the Bay Area, Gerstley met Elizabeth Lilienthal (1913-2007), daughter of Samuel Lilienthal and Alice Haas (both from prominent California Jewish families). Elizabeth was raised in San Francisco and spent her young life in the Haas-Lilienthal House on Franklin Street. She attended the Burke School, Stanford University and Smith College. James Mack Gerstley and Elizabeth Lilienthal married at the home of Madeleine Russell in Atherton in 1934. In the mid-1930s, James Mack Gerstley started working for the Pacific Borax Company in Los Angeles. By 1950, he had become president of the company, which later became known as U.S. Borax and Chemical Co. The company was cemented in the popular imagination by its 20-mule team, which became an icon of the American West. James Mack and Elizabeth had two children, Ann and Jimmy (James). Gerstley was also an active philanthropist in the Bay Area, working particularly on local arts and culture. He was one of the co-founders of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and was instrumental in securing for the new museum the Avery Brundage collection. Elizabeth was also an active philanthropist. James and Elizabeth both died in 2007 at the respective ages of 99 and 94.

From the guide to the James Mack and Elizabeth Lilienthal Gerstley family papers and photographs, 1867-2003, bulk 1910-1985, (The Bancroft Library)