John Ehrlich

John Ehrlich has chaired the Fleishhacker Foundation since 2016 after joining the board in 1979 as a fourth generation member.

The foundation grants around $1 million a year. It gave a key grant for the original production of “Angels in America” and was one of the first grants to “826 Valencia.” The foundation grants to small arts organizations and with its Eureka Fellowships gives four $40,000 grants to individual visual artists every year. It is transitioning from grants to education to fifth generation inspired social justice programs.

John was born and raised in San Francisco before going east to college – to UC Berkeley, where he received a BS in Business Administration. He lived in the student housing co-op, the largest in the USA, and was elected President after serving in many other leadership positions. He later received a Masters in Public Administration from Golden Gate University. John joined the San Francisco Police Department where he retired as Captain after 32 years. He is currently Secretary of BALEAF, a small police charity. He spends much of his time as the Chair of the Safety Committee for Temple Sinai of Oakland enhancing emergency preparedness.

He currently lives in Berkeley with his wife whom he married in 2022 after being friends since college. He is happy to talk about travel after visiting over 75 countries.