Mountain Democrat News Obituary

http://www.mtdemocrat.com/story.php?id=901.11

William K. Gallagher, Ph.D., 68, died April 4, 2008, in Alameda, Calif. A speaker and an author, William was a 15-year member of the community in Diamond Springs.

Born Jan. 27, 1940, in Los Angeles, to his parents Leonard W. Gallagher and Sally Roberts Gallagher, William “Bill” Gallagher spent his early years in Los Angeles and graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1958. Befriending many of the entertainment industry elite of the time, Bill sang with an early incarnation of the famous group Jan and Dean and wrote a few of their songs. From an early age Bill was gifted with language and passionate about world cultures and travel.

Following high school, Bill attended BYU, Utah, where he earned a BA in Political Science and Language in 1964. During this time, he also served a mission in Brazil for the LDS Church from 1960-62. Bill then attended the University of Utah Law School in 1964 before starting a career with the CIA that spanned over a decade during the Vietnam War. During this time, he also worked for New York Life Insurance in both Los Angeles and Honolulu, and later for Beneficial Life Insurance in Honolulu. These positions provided him with the means to pursue his passion for travel and to raise his family internationally. They lived throughout the world, predominantly in Switzerland, Spain, and Israel. In each location he enrolled his children in local schools to learn the language and culture.

Pursuing his passion for education, Bill earned a master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Hawaii in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Walden University, Florida, in 1976. Bill was also a professor at BYU, Hawaii, from 1973-77, and at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, from 1977-79.

In the 1980s Bill was back in the U.S. working for Control Data Corp. He soon founded a computer education company, Computers Simplified Inc., whose clients included many Fortune 500 companies. He was featured in the Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine and on several television news segments for his fast success.

Bill later led seminars on his “mind map” design and the psychology of marketing. In 1992 he authored the New York Times best seller Guerrilla Selling, and spent the next decade leading Guerrilla Selling seminars for businesses around the world. During this time, he continued his focus on sales and marketing, teaching at California State University Sacramento, in 1998 and earning his MBA in 1999.

Bill’s passions included surfing, sailing, skiing, theology, travel, language, fly-fishing, music, reading and writing. But his main focus in life was his family.

Bill is survived by his father, Leonard, his sister, Laurie Brown, his children, David Kier, William Jr., Robert, Thomas, Sara, and Nathaniel, and by seven grandchildren.

A memorial was held in his honor on April 11, at the Temple Israel Sanctuary in Alameda, Calif. His ashes were scattered in the San Francisco Bay, where he loved to sail with his children.

Fi Fi Le Mu

Today I was thinking about the song Abba taught us at Granny and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary. I thought maybe I could find a version of it on the internet, but now I'm wondering if he didn't make it up?

I remember gathering for our family luau in Big Bear, where we all did something to entertain each other. I remember directing Nate, Alison and Amy to do this dance to "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" (So I'm making that the next song of the day). I remember grandpa put on a grass skirt and danced the hula.

And I also remember Abba teaching us this Polynesian song, with a long explanation of how it so appropriately matched granny and grandpa's marriage and gave keys for the reason it had lasted those 50 years. (Isn't there video of this somewhere?)

I think the song went like this:

Sao va-le va-le, means go for a walk
Tao tala tala, means too much talk
Alisa i'ahte' oi, means I love you
Take it easy, fi fi le mu.

You Are My Sunshine

Today's song of the day is "You Are My Sunshine." It's one of the first songs I remember him singing to me as a little girl. I remember being in a small row boat with him while he sang to me. I believe we were in a park or zoo (I think I was around 3 or 4). This song continued to be a special song for me throughout my life and has always made me think of Abba. -Sara

YouAreMySunshine.mp3

Rob's Favorite Photo of Dad

"When I think of him in my mind, this is what he always looks like, because I carried this photo of him with me for decades now.
Which is why I was always surprised when I saw him in person at how much he aged! :)"
-Rob Gallagher

Honoring Bill

Dear Gallagher Family:

I wanted to send flowers to Bill Gallagher's grave, but found out that he was placed into the San Francisco Bay.

Moki told me a story that his father told him when they were together in Frankfurt, Germany in 1992. Bill told Moki that the Main River in Frankfurt Germany where they were standing connected to the Rheine River that connected to the sea, then to the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean which connected to the San Francisco Bay and eventually to his house in Diamond Springs, California. Moki asked his father what he was trying to say, and Bill said that we are all connected in this water world.

Frankfurt, Germany
Diamond Springs, California

Moki told me that I could honor Bill by placing Chrysanthemum Flower - Kiku in a river by my house in Shimane, Japan. The lake is called Shinji Lake, then the lake connects to Nakaumi River which goes out to the Japan Sea, from there into the Pacific Ocean and finally to San Francisco Bay where Bill Gallagher was laid to rest.

Shimane, Japan
Bill Gallagher Burial at Sea

My thoughts go out to Bill. He was a friend and a great teacher in my life. Bill asked me once before I went on my mission with the Mormon Church what I planned to do on my mission; I told him that I would do good missionary work. Bill told me, in order to do great missionary work, you should start by feeling the spirit in your heart. You should be a great spiritual teacher, and then missionary work will come naturally. Moki said that being what you want, leads to doing what you want, and finally will have the best result with the least amount of effort. That is what Bill was teaching. Moki said the idea comes from Zen Buddhism. Bill taught Moki, like he taught me, that most people go about doing things in life in order to have something, which lets them be something. But it was much easier to choose to be a certain way so that the doing came naturally with the least amount of effort.

The Gallagher family is very dear to our family in Japan. We talk about your family all the time.

Your Family are in our prayers.

With Love,
Sachiko Sota
Shimane Japan