Ben Doniach, a former UC Santa Cruz employee, died on July 10, 2018 from injuries suffered in a collision with a car while riding his bike. He was 61.
Doniach was hired in 2002 and worked on campus until August 2007. He served in Colleges, Housing, and Educational Services (CHES) as a senior building maintenance worker at Crown College.
Services will be held at a future date, as his wife, Tutti, is recovering from a lengthy illness.
He loved his interactions with the students at Crown, particularly leading the summer student paint crew. On three occasions, he was selected by the students of Crown to hand out diplomas at graduation, a high honor. When he had to have brain surgery to remove a benign tumor, the university staff donated three months of vacation leave.
During his convalescence, the students at Crown made a colorful mobile of a thousand origami paper cranes, which still hang in Ben’s room. Ben was noted for his extensive and varied music tastes while at Crown, and many people would tune into his playlists. Ben liked to say he “played a mean turn-table.”
Ben is survived by his partner of 33 years, Tutti Hacking; daughters Hannah and Zoë Doniach (Santa Cruz), Rori Launspach and grand-daughter Madison Jane Garfinkel-Launspach (San Jose); his father Sebastian Doniach, step-mother Jennifer Doniach, brother Joseph Doniach (Palo Alto); sisters Alex Doniach (San Francisco), Martha Doniach (London), Tabitha Doniach (Santa Rosa); and his step-father Richard Joseph (Tucson).
His full obituary is available online.
