Berkeleyside31%
Remembering Sally Sklar, attorney who co-led drive to underground wires on Amador Avenue 21%
By Family of Sally Sklar0%
7/24/2026, 12:00:00 PM
Topics: Obituary
BS Summary: This article contains 4 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Appeal to Emotion, and Framing Effect, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 35.7% saturation with 212 hits. Analysis detected 407 faulty-reasoning hits from 594 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 35.2% and a BS Rank of 21% (16,787 of 21,198 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 79.20% of the article peer group.
Sally Ann Sklar, a force of nature and longtime resident of Berkeley, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully in her sleep on July 16 at age 88.
If you were fortunate enough to know her, you’ll recall her unique mix of strong will combined with kindness and caring.
Sally was born in 1938 and grew up in Philadelphia.
She had very fond memories of summers spent with her Grandmother Kate and Aunt Mabel in the somewhat nearby small Pennsylvania town of Catasauqua.
Sally was bright and hardworking, attending Philadelphia High School for Girls.
Sally worked her way through college at Temple as a waitress including at the Hot Shoppe.
While at Temple, she met her husband Bernard (Bernie) and they were married in 1958.
Sally and Bernie moved to Berkeley in 1962 and lived there ever since, with the exception of two years at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and one year spent living in England and traveling around Europe.
Sally earned a master’s degree in psychology from San Francisco state and had several jobs administering psychological tests.
Sally then studied law earning her J.D. degree from Hastings, now called UC Law San Francisco.
With her law degree, Sally worked reviewing contracts for the Navy, transitioned into family law handling divorce and child custody, and then transitioned again into disability law.
Whether or not she was paid, Sally represented her clients vigorously.
Despite her busy work schedule, Sally was a great mother who valued education, always encouraged her children, and modeled hard work and perseverance.
Sally urged her children to participate in sports and was always willing to “play ball” with her children and grandchildren.
She herself was a dedicated swimmer for many years as a member of the Strawberry Canyon Aquatic Masters.
She also began jogging or “slogging” as she termed it.
Sally and Bernie enjoyed travel and together they visited many countries in Europe, plus Canada, Mexico, Morocco, India, Thailand and Nepal.
They rode bicycles during many of their European trips and often stayed in “budget” accommodations.
Closer to home, Sally was a “driving force” on Amador Avenue in Berkeley, where she and Bernie lived since 1968, hosting countless neighborhood parties.
She was especially proud of the role she played overcoming some opposition and organizing the street to underground the wires, thereby saving Amador’s beautiful trees.
Amador remains one of relatively few Berkeley streets without telephone poles and overhead wires.
If you were her friend, you were in luck.
She hosted frequent gatherings, was a talented cook especially of desserts such as her Buche de Noel at Christmas, and helped you during any health or other challenge.
In her later years, Sally’s main physical activity became walking the neighborhood, treating neighborhood dogs to rawhides stored in her pockets and collecting “treasures” from the street including flowers that had dropped onto the sidewalk, interesting rocks, and books from the various local “little libraries.”
During her last two months, Sally lived at the Silverado Berkeley Senior Facility, and we thank the staff for their care.
Sally was preceded in death by her mother Elizabeth (Betty) Keyser.
She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Bernard Sklar, her sister Luana Gordon, her sons Paul (Mary Beth), Daniel, and Brian (Wendy), her grandchildren Michael, Josh, Madeline, Max, and Nicholas, and her great grandchildren Owen and Emilia.
Sally had asked that her body be used for medical/scientific research purposes by the University of California San Francisco Willed Body Program, so there will be no funeral.
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