Originally published Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Obituary
Abe Osheroff had a life right out of a movie
Abe Osheroff had the kind of life that movies are made of. Here's the opening scene: It's 1937, and 21-year-old Osheroff is sailing to Spain...
Seattle Times staff reporter
Abe Osheroff had the kind of life that movies are made of.
Here's the opening scene: It's 1937, and 21-year-old Osheroff is sailing to Spain to fight with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Near the Spanish coast, Osheroff's ship is torpedoed by an Italian submarine, but he leaps from the wreckage and swims two miles to shore, where he is shot in the leg by Spanish fascists a few months later.
And all that's just the first five minutes of what surely would be an award-winning action film.
Osheroff, who died Sunday (April 6) in his North Seattle home at the age of 92, had an "adventurous life," said his wife, Gunnel Clark.
He fought for the U.S. Army during World War II; stood up to white supremacists in Mississippi during the 1960s; traveled to Nicaragua to support the Sandinista regime in the 1980s; and, up until last week, actively protested the war in Iraq.
"He was incredibly passionate," Clark said. "All his life, he was standing up for something. Fighting for what he believed in."
Osheroff began his political activism as a teenager in Brooklyn, when he was arrested for helping his neighbors disobey eviction orders during the Depression, Clark said.
In 1964, he drove to Mississippi to help build a community center in a black neighborhood. His first night there, white supremacists lit his car on fire, Clark said. But Osheroff, who worked as a carpenter most of his life, wasn't intimidated. He raised $20,000 and stayed until the construction job was done.
"The man's car is bombed, and he still stood strong," said Joe Martin, who founded the Pike Place Medical Clinic and was Osheroff's close friend. "I mean, we're talking about someone who was a gruff, rough, tough construction worker. But at the same time, he was a working-class intellectual. He loved poetry and history, too."
Osheroff may have been best known for fighting in Spain with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which included about 2,800 other Americans. The brigade has been mythologized in movies and literature over the years, and it's the backdrop for Ernest Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Osheroff was the last surviving veteran of the conflict living in Washington state.
In 1974, he made a documentary, "Dreams and Nightmares," about his experience with the brigade. The film begins with Osheroff walking around a Spanish town in 1973, which at the time of filming was still under the rule of Spanish fascists. Osheroff mulls the question, "Since nothing has changed, was our fighting here even worth it?"
But the question was just rhetorical, said Osheroff's friend, Howard Gale, a research psychologist in Seattle.
![]()
"Abe always believed that you fight for what you believe to be right. Always," said Gale. "If you did that, you were expressing something that's deepest and best in human nature."
In 1984, Osheroff was one of the key protagonists in a documentary, "The Good Fight," about Americans in Spain during the 1930s. In 2000, he made another film, "Art in the Struggle for Freedom," about the poetry and poster art of the Spanish Civil War.
Since the early 1990s, Osheroff dedicated most of his time to helping foster kids.
In addition to his wife, Osheroff is survived by his three children, two stepchildren and eight grandchildren. For information on Osheroff's service, please visit www.abeosheroff.org.
Haley Edwards: 206-464-2745 or hedwards@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
Illegal workers quietly let go
Metro won't cut bus service after all
Jerry Large: Food-bank theft turns into a gift
Bumper to Bumper: How can the city let bridges go dark?

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
nwautos
Local riders say they've seen a surge in scooter interest in recent years, mostly from people wanting another commuting option. Seattle now ranks as o...
Post a comment
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Do you suffer from "sitting disease"?
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
357 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
206 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
170 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
147 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
94 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
90 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
82 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
76 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
73 - UW, WSU once again meet to see who's worse
66
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit








