PASSINGS

Herbert Hamrol:Survivor of San Francisco quake

Herbert Hamrol, 106, who according to the San Francisco Chronicle was the last known survivor of the earthquake that leveled the city on April 18, 1906, died Wednesday at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif.

Last April, Hamrol was the lone survivor to attend the annual commemoration of the cataclysmic quake and fire that destroyed most of the city.

An active senior citizen, until last month he was still working stocking shelves and greeting customers at San Francisco’s Andronico’s Market. He started with the company when he retired as a grocer in 1967.

“He still came in twice a week -- took the BART and the bus to work from Daly City, and walked,” said Janine Barrett, a manager at Andronico’s.

Over the years, Hamrol was a regular at commemorations of the Great Quake, spinning stories about how he escaped a crumbling building in the city’s Fillmore District in his mother’s arms. He was just 3 when the earthquake hit. After the quake, his family moved to Chicago but stayed only briefly before moving back while San Francisco was being rebuilt.

Hamrol began working after grammar school and eventually owned Herbert’s Food Shop on 16th Avenue and Geary Boulevard for nearly 40 years. He moved to Daly City in the late 1980s.

Milton Parker:Owner of N.Y.’s Carnegie Deli

Milton Parker, 90, the longtime owner of New York’s famous Carnegie Deli, renowned for its gargantuan pastrami, tongue and chopped liver sandwiches with such names as “Nova on Sunday” and “50 Ways to Love Your Liver,” died Jan. 31 in Queens of respiratory problems, said his daughter, Marian Levine.

His family says nothing will change at the legendary deli in Manhattan’s Theater District, where Woody Allen filmed scenes for “Broadway Danny Rose.”

Over the years, the restaurant has developed a devoted following for its oversized sandwiches stuffed with meat, some costing more than $20 and named after celebrities including comedian Henny Youngman.

Parker was born Jan. 10, 1919, in Brooklyn, where he grew up working in diners. He later ran a coffee shop on Long Island.

He and two partners bought the Carnegie Deli from its previous owners in 1976. One partner sold his share, and a second, Leo Steiner, died in 1987. Parker, whose business card said Milton Parker CPM -- for Corned Beef and Pastrami Maven -- retired in 2002 and turned the business over to his son-in-law.

Parker’s daughter said her father loved to eat and used to say that he wanted to die with a hot dog in his mouth. So at his memorial Monday, she held up one of his beloved foot-long frankfurters and said: “This is for you, Dad. Enjoy this hot dog.”