Gene Canevari, longtime Santa Rosa Junior College assistant dean, dies at 83

Gene Canevari, a longtime Santa Rosa Junior College assistant dean, viewed himself as a mentor to students above all in his job as an administrator.

Even though he retired in 1988, he was recognized last month by student leaders for his distinguished service to the college and deep caring for students.

Canevari, 83, died Nov. 15 in his Santa Rosa home of complications from colon cancer.

In October, student leaders presented him with a framed copy of a resolution recognizing his work as assistant dean of student services, director of student activities, counselor and student government adviser.

“It was very touching, these young people interested in him,” said his daughter Kimberly Hernandez of San Leandro. “We were very honored to have the Student Government Assembly honor him four weeks before he died.”

She added, “He had many students who credited him with really focusing their life and giving them a vision of their future. He really believed in people and was a great encourager of people.”

Canevari did not foresee a career as an educator. A Santa Rosa native, he had the acting bug in his younger years and wanted to be an actor, leading to a bit part in a major motion picture filmed in Santa Rosa in the mid-1950s: “Storm Center,” starring Academy Award winners Bette Davis and Kim Hunter.

Davis played a small-town librarian labeled a communist for her anti-censorship stance, a work described as Hollywood’s first overtly anti-McCarthyism film.

But it suffered from bad reviews, and even Davis admitted it fell short of her expectations,

“It was a total flop,” Hernandez said, but she said the family enjoyed buying a copy recently and watching her father, who had a few lines as “Sandy the bartender.”

“That was the extent of his Hollywood stint,” she said.

Eugene Stanley Canevari was born in Santa Rosa in 1932. His father owned Pioneer Concrete and built roads. His mother was a teacher.

He graduated from Santa Rosa High School in 1951 and a year later married his high school sweetheart, Carmelita Phillips. Both were interested in drama.

But after graduating from UC Berkeley in 1956 with a degree in English, Canevari got a job at Rincon Valley Elementary School, where he taught fifth and sixth grades.

For a time, he had a side job making gun stocks under his business, Cali’co Hardwoods.

By 1966, Canevari was working at the junior college as a student adviser. He would later go to Sonoma State University and obtain his graduate degree in counseling.

Canevari had a hand in a number of initiatives that endeared him to students. A recent SRJC Oak Leaf article said he founded the junior college day-care center, the Women’s Center Crisis Line and Bear Facts, a publication of student activities. He also contributed to a program for ex-convicts.

In a 1985 interview in the college newspaper, he said one of his fondest memories was receiving an award from disabled students for his unique care.

Canevari said there was a whole host of things that SRJC should be doing that other colleges were not, including support for a strong student government and student activities program.

As director of Student Services, he guided the remodeling of Pioneer Hall, the oldest building on campus, and the renovation of Doyle Student Center with a lounge and game room.

The student government’s recent resolution stated that he provided effective advising and support “through his hard work, quick wit, caring and generous nature, outspoken advocacy and unwavering commitment to students,” according to the Oak Leaf.

After he retired in 1988, he did some work as a location scout for companies shooting commercials and movies, and he worked as an intern at TV-50.

He also was the “Voice of SRJC” in public service announcements, including the line “Isn’t it time you went to college, or back to college?” his daughter said.

In addition to Hernandez, he is survived by his wife, Carmelita Canevari of Santa Rosa; daughter Piper Berruto of Morrisville, N.C.; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at Santa Rosa Memorial Park chapel.

Donations are suggested to the SRJC Foundation, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 95401, “Attn: restoration of fountain,” or to the Redwood Gospel Mission, P.O. Box 493, Santa Rosa, 95402.