The San Francisco Bay Area book world was shocked to learn that longtime book wholesaler, book rep and bookseller Barbara Beaver died last Wednesday when she jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Bridget Kinsella, one of her many friends, remembers:
The Bay Area Book Universe is one less star bright with the unexpected death of Barbara Beaver last week. Today would have been Barbara's 56th birthday.
Barbara Beaver came of age in the book business working for Bookpeople and then as a sales rep for Chronicle Books. In recent years she worked at A Great Good Place for Books and Book Passage bookstores.
Known for her often outlandish style and always quick wit, Barbara also had the uncanny ability to spot the light within others and hold it up to them like a mirror. Friends are gathering on a Facebook page, "Friends of Barbara Sue Beaver," to swap stories filled with fun and love.
One of my first memories of Barbara involves a pair of hoop earrings I have with what Barbara called exclamation points inside them. "It's so redundant," she told me once on the floor of an NCIBA, "for you to wear exclamation points when you are a walking exclamation point." Takes one to know one, Barbara, takes one to know one.
All are invited to the Facebook page, where details about a celebration of her life are forthcoming.