OAKLAND, Calif. (BRAIN) — Longtime industry veteran Howard Sutherland, who authored a seven-edition bike repair book that was a mainstay on bike shop workbenches for decades, died June 19.
He was 75.
He wrote and self-published Sutherland's Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics, which compiled data on non-standard bike components. For his book and other inventions, Sutherland was honored with an NBDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
When working at the Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative in Berkeley, California, he developed a passion for helping bike shops run efficiently, which would contribute to getting more people on bikes. During a 40-year career, he often biked to his office in Emeryville bordering the Bay and he lived for several years in the early 1980s on a boat in Berkeley Marina. He continued working within a mile of the shore until advancing Parkinson's disease required moving to assisted living in 2016.
Sutherland grew up in Kensington, Maryland, attained Eagle Scout rank, edited his high school literary journal, and sometimes got around on a unicycle. He dropped out of college — later saying that he learned a lot on the road — and took photography courses in London. While in England, he led American Youth Hostel bike tours before coming back to the U.S. and settling in the San Francisco area during the Summer of Love.
He is survived by his sister Beth Sutherland (Paul Kaplan); his children Kory Sutherland (Grant Chang) and Andrew Sutherland, granddaughter Olive Sutherland Chang, former wife Nancy Sutherland, partner Kate Brookes, nephews Jonah Sutherland, Alex Pajunas, Michael Sutherland, and Danny Kaplan, and many close friends.
