Remembering Ed Gold
Ed Gold led a life that reads like a Hollywood script, so it is only fitting that he started off in Hollywood as a kid. His father was a Hollywood producer, and Ed grew up on studio back-lots, playing cowboys on the sets of Westerns with only one rule: if you can see the camera, it can see you!
Surrounded by luminaries from such a young age, Ed quickly became accustomed to being near the limelight, if not squarely in it. Once he set out on his own, Ed’s path led him around the globe.
Ed taught scuba diving for the U.S. Navy in Hawaii and was one of the first certified windsurfing instructors in the U.S. He spent years as Cat Stevens’ right-hand man, touring the world with the musician at the height of his popularity. Ed even had a stint as an auctioneer for an industrial auction company in Los Angeles.
It was inevitable that Ed would return to Hollywood. Eventually, he spent twenty years in the entertainment business, starting as a studio grip and then working his way up to creating, writing, and producing projects for television and the big screen ranging from CBS’s award winning movie “Kids Like These” to Disney’s “Operation Dumbo Drop.” In recognition of his work, Ed has received the Easter Seals Communication Award, Media Access Award, Christopher Award and Rehabilitation Congress of America Award.
Ed decided to take a break from “Hollywood” and moved to Northern California with his wife, Joanne, and spent years raising their two sons and staying active in charity organizations like the Muscular Dystrophy Association, City of Hope, and Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Bay Area. It was at the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Bay Area auction in 2007 that he saw Greg Quiroga perform and thought, “There’s something that I would love to do.”
He cold-called Greg, got a sit-down interview, and the two worked together for over sixteen years. In that time, Ed became one of the most knowledgeable fundraising auction consultants in the Bay Area, and a favorite auctioneer at many fundraising auction events.
Ed’s wife still lives in Pacifica in the home they built together. Their two sons are both productive adults in the world. Ed was a loving father, husband, co-worker, friend, and avid story teller, and we miss him every day.
