Bernie Adeney-Risakotta
I have been missing Sharon for several years now. On our occasional visits to Berkeley from Indonesia, we often gathered with friends, usually including Sharon. She was a large part of my life in the 1970s and 1980s, and then an ongoing old friend whom we saw occasionally in the 1990s and 2000s. One year, when we were back for an extended visit, we had lunch with Sharon and her husband at their home in Alameda. That year we borrowed $5,000 to buy a car. An extraordinary set of circumstances brought us a very hot BMW that was within our budget. When we went back to Indonesia, we offered the car to Sharon for way below market price. She needed a car and the price was right. She almost bought it, but backed out. She was committed to living simply and I think the idea of driving a hot BMW did not quite feel right to her.
When I first came to Berkeley in 1973, Jack Sparks suggested I should be Co-Editor of Right On with Sharon. But when I met her, my first thought was, this woman does not need a co-editor. She should be the Editor. During the years of CWLF, BCC and House Church of Berkeley, I remember Sharon as always calm and gentle, but with an inner toughness and reserve. She stayed away from conflicts but had strong convictions. In our countless meetings, she didn’t say much or assert herself, but when she spoke, we all listened.
During the last years, she disappeared from our lives. What happened to Sharon? We heard she was living near family in Red Bluff and was suffering from dementia. It didn’t seem possible. Thinking of Sharon, I recall the words, “For all that has been, Thank you. For all that is to come, Yes!” (Dag Hammarskjöld)
Cathy Barsotti
Sharon was a stealth force for radical love and discipleship in the way of Jesus.
Jonathan Baylis
So sorry to hear of Sharon’s early death. She was a lovely, dear sister.
Carla Brewington
How very sad! I knew her back in my Berkeley days and loved her dearly!
Bob Clark
“Right On” & “Radix” were literally a north star for me as a young Christian, as was the CWLF. It all charged my Christian imagination and matured my involvement with the Christian House movement in the San Joaquin Valley’s Jesus movement.
These things all combined to prompt me to go to Northwest Christian College in Eugene, OR. I was only going to attend there for a term (to check out this “Jesus character”) and then get back to my track to go to UC-SLO. Well, that never happened. I finished my undergrad degree at NCC and then spent a number of years trying to figure out what was next. That all eventually led me to getting to know Deb & IVCF…. What a gift of grace!
Charles Cotherman
I am sorry to hear this. She left such a legacy.
Jeanne DeFazio
I was so blessed to have someone as wonderful as Sharon Gallagher in my life.
Clancy Dunnigan
Staring out into the forest here on Whidbey Island, reading [of Sharon’s death]. Just last night I was thinking after Sharon Gallagher. Lunch one sunny afternoon, lunching together. She over a bowl of borscht, me with a piece of shark. My first bite then hers. We laughed and talked about whatever….A few other loose ends….
Grace Dyrness
Sharon was amazing. Rest in peace, dear friend. May light eternal shine on you.
David Eng
Since the 1990s I have enjoyed attending a number of her classes at New College and reading the Radix magazine regularly. My heartfelt condolences to all who mourn her loss.
Larry Eskridge
I met Sharon in the early-mid 2000s when making the interview rounds in northern California while doing research for a history of the Jesus People movement. While an obvious source on the CWLF and the Berkeley side of the Bay Area scene, she also brought a unique perspective to the table as a savvy, intellectual woman navigating the male-dominated (and let’s face it—often bizarre) terrain of the ‘Jesus Revolution.’ In my interview and in subsequent follow-up phone calls I found Sharon to be insightful, funny, wise, measured, and compassionate—a Christian in every good sense that counts. In retrospect, given her time and context, as well as the scope of her career and impact, I think she rightfully deserves a biography.
David Gill
Sharon was a huge part of my work and family life from 1971 to 1992 and then a lifetime friend until her death. I met her in March 1971 at a Christian World Liberation Front standing-room-only gathering to hear Os Guinness on a speaking tour for Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri Fellowship. Os was great but what was decisive for me was meeting CWLF director Jack Sparks and his invitation to contribute articles to the CWLF tabloid Right On. Over the next few months I got to know Sharon as a fellow-contributor. In August, Jack and several of us contributing writers, artists, and photographers met to brainstorm the future and the leadership needs of Right On. Jack turned to me and asked if I would serve as the Editor of Right On. I replied “Yes, but only if we appoint Sharon Gallagher and me together as Co-editors.” Sharon and everyone else agreed. All the other leaders of CWLF were male at the time—but I honestly wasn’t thinking I was heroic or progressive, just smart. Sharon had become a proven, gifted, productive, creative writer who had been there six months longer than me. We both had Plymouth Brethren roots in our past and were deeply influenced by Francis Schaeffer and the Reformed tradition of “Christ transforming culture” as well as the radical discipleship of John Howard Yoder, Ron Sider and the Anabaptist tradition.
Together we immediately expanded and strengthened Right On’s content and its community of writers and artists. We began doing joint interviews of people in the worlds of art and music, politics, theology, academia, and culture (Black Panthers Bobby Seale & Elaine Brown, Gospel music leader Edwin Hawkins, Hal Lindsey, Chuck Colson, et al). We were both networking maniacs. Her film reviews became must-reading for many. I started writing a monthly “Radical Christian” column that continued to 1979. In 1972 we successfully applied for official press passes to cover the Democratic and Republican Conventions in Miami Beach. I covered the Democrats who nominated George McGovern, Sharon covered the Republicans who nominated Richard Nixon, soon to be derailed by Watergate. We were on a roll. We were able to install vending machines around the East Bay to expand our outreach.
Our leadership style was totally collaborative. I’ve never had a better, more satisfying leadership experience in my life than I had with Sharon as we faced opportunities and challenges of all kinds. When I moved to LA in 1973 to work on a PhD, I insisted that Sharon be recognized as the sole editor of Right On—against the wishes of a couple old-school males in the CWLF world. I remained in close and supportive touch with Sharon through the next years as Right On broke free and became independent and known as Radix by 1976.
In 1972, as our second year as co-editors began, I organized and led our CWLF study center “The Crucible: A Form for Radical Christian Studies.” Sharon was right there from day one as a founding member of our steering committee and teacher of short courses on film and on a Christian approach to feminism and women’s studies. She was again part of my brainstorming posse, feasibility study committee, and then founding board of directors for our graduate school New College Berkeley in 1977. Sharon was a marvelous leader in all these settings—boldly entrepreneurial, wise and insightful, strong in faith and biblical values, encouraging in hard times, and fun to be around.
On a personal level, Sharon was like my fourth sister, caring for my wife Lucia and our kids born in 1971 and 1972, picnicking, feasting, celebrating, and attending blues concerts at Keystone Corner West. We loved her sense of humor. Sharon was also a beautiful woman who, unknown to many, had been named Miss Tujunga or Miss San Fernando Valley (I can’t remember which) as a teenager. She was never flirtatious, never flaunted her beauty, but remained serene, humble, and modest. Still, at least two famous guys we knew confessed to me that while they found her so attractive they were too intimidated by her brains and beauty to pursue her romantically! A bad experience she had was when a famous old theologian tried to make a move on her in her office and she had to circle around her desk telling him to stop actually chasing her! Another potentially dangerous but ultimately funny episode was when a strange guy in Oregon named Jeff kept calling the office and writing over and over to say that God told him he was to marry Sharon! She made clear that she was unavailable and please stop. Then one day he was knocking on the door of our office. I met him at the door and I must have threatened him with bodily harm if he didn’t leave and never come back. He replied “David, I am not worried about your threats because I have read your stuff and know you are a pacifist.” I replied, “Yes Jeff, I am a pacifist—but sometimes I fall into sin!” He left and we never heard from him again. Adventures with my beloved sister.
In 1979 Sharon moved her Radix office into our New College Berkeley campus building and our partnership continued strong through the 1980s till I moved to Chicago for the 90s, then to Boston for the 2010s. Our contact was more limited to coffee or lunch every three months or so when I was back in town but to the end she was my beloved sister and friend, a valued counselor and conversation partner as well someone whose work I admired and thank God for. Thank you and rest in peace now dear sister.
Nigel Goodwin
Steve Turner passed on to me the message of Sharon’s going finally into Narnia.
On my many visits to encourage the arts with you there across The Pond, I had the pleasure of spending time with Sharon and all her thinking Christianly about life and living it.
They say that if you remember the 60s, you weren’t there. We were there on Sproul Steps [U. C.] Berkeley and elsewhere with Jack Sparks, Holy Hubert and many others sharing poetry and thought that many both recognised and adhered to. You were there too David I believe along with so many of our contemporaries who have gone on ahead of us, you and I and others continue to spread the good news.
I am now an 88 year-old teenager. The head’s still young and curious the rest of me i.e. the wallpaper needing constant attention. We do this because within is a treasure that does go on forever….
Yours always
In HIS grace, truth and grip.
Arlene Hatfield
We had wonderful times with Sharon and you, David and Lucia, in your living room small group. I remember those Right On days. Larry and I were invited to join Sharon on an interview with Eldridge Cleaver. Such a gifted woman!
Janet Herrick
Sharon came out to Michigan at our invitation, most likely in the 90s or early2000s, to speak at our Veritas Forum. Jim and I had some memorable conversations over meals with her. We so appreciated her making space for us in her busy life, and sharing her wisdom with many at our Forum here at Hope College.
Margaret Horwitz
Sharon was a much-loved colleague, a friend and a sister in the faith. I met her shortly after my husband and I relocated from L.A. to the Bay Area for his work in 2002. Having picked up a New College Berkeley brochure while visiting the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, I attended an independent scholar’s meeting at Peggy Alter’s house. While there, Susan Phillips invited me to teach on my area of research in Jane Austen’s work. Over the next fifteen years, Sharon and I, and Susan, worked together as I taught NCB classes on the Christian meaning in the novels of Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë and their film and television adaptations. I would contact Sharon, or she would reach out to me, with an idea for a class, and establish a date for it.
In addition to her other gifts, Sharon had an artistic sense of how to combine images and text, which was evident in her NCB pamphlets, posters, and in Radix magazine. For a class I taught on films about Holocaust rescuers, and other people of great courage like Mother Teresa, she selected poignant photos to accompany my descriptions of the class. Sharon also came to my classes, registering attendees, and forming an important part of the audience through her support and feedback. I had the pleasure of meeting Sharon’s beloved mother, Dorothy, when she joined us for one of my Jane Austen presentations.
I enjoyed attending Sharon’s excellent classes on women in the Christian faith, and on Celtic spirituality. Her knowledge of the Bible and her concern for the dignity and contributions of women were edifying and moving. She brought to her talks a special love of Celtic history and traditions from her paternal Irish heritage.
Sharon and I collaborated with Keith Criss on a film conference entitled “Reel Faith” in 2005, held at Oakland First Covenant Church. Among the speakers was Pete Docter from Pixar films, whose involvement Sharon had arranged. A presentation I gave there on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and the film It’s a Wonderful Life, was re-written as an article for Radix magazine, with Sharon’s gracious encouragement. I had the privilege of its being included in a Radix anthology volume, Where Faith Meets Culture (2010).
Sharon’s abilities shone greatly in her long editorship of the journal, Radix: Where Christian Faith Meets Contemporary Culture. She was a gifted writer, and I appreciated her essays on films. I admired her bringing together many other writers, including those who wrote poetry, and reviews of books and music. I looked forward to each issue, often reading it cover to cover. For the 40th anniversary celebration of Radix magazine in 2009, Susan collected many tributes for Sharon, and a part of the program was a presentation by the writer Philip Yancey.
Sharon was a skilled interviewer, and conducted numerous interviews, including one many years before I met her with Mother Teresa at an event in Mexico City! In 2013, she interviewed another renowned figure, Malcolm Guite, who spoke on “The Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien.” Sharon asked our son Matthew to transcribe it, and later told me how much she valued Matthew’s in-depth knowledge of Tolkien.
Sharon holds a special place of gratitude in my heart, because she was the first one to offer Matthew a real summer job while he was in college at Cal Berkeley. He transcribed other interviews over the years and also helped to format the anthology volume. His name appears as a production assistant on ten issues of Radix magazine, an opportunity that was much appreciated. She mentioned that she considered Matthew a friend as well as Arnie and myself, and Sharon joined my family for several holiday celebrations, such as the Fourth of July.
As friends and sisters in Christ, Sharon and I met almost once a month for over ten years with Susan Phillips, Bonnie Howe and Sandra Ramos. As a group called “The Lunch Bunch,” our visits together involved sharing what we wished to have the others hold in prayer. A number of times, the four of us attended films together in Berkeley and went out for coffee afterward to discuss them. Also, Sharon and I took each other out to lunch for our birthdays, a treasured tradition. One place we met was Venezia restaurant, which had a Venetian theme—and we looked forward to that.
At the NCB Christmas party in 2019 in the home of Jeff and Kathy Bairey, Sharon was in the company of longtime friends and colleagues. She seemed so comfortable and in her element, that one couldn’t tell she was ill. This was shortly before she joined her family in Red Bluff, and I am thankful for the wonderful care she has received from Carla Siemens and other family members for the last five years. Sharon and I had profound connections in our lives, and I miss her smile, her love of friends, and her faith in God. I’m thankful that she is with God now, beyond sorrow and pain. She will continue to be deeply missed by me, our community here, and by many people in the kingdom of God, whose lives she touched through her teaching and writing.
Bob Hunter
I remember her from days of yore. I think we may have met back in the Radix days. I am so sorry to hear of her death. I have great respect for her. Indeed, our world is a little bit smaller and sadder today.
Ed Hyman
As I write from the North Shore of Minnesota’s Lake Superior I am struck by a sadness as profound and abundant as the waters of Gitchee Gumee. Susan Phillips, Emeritus Executive Director of New College Berkeley, had just advised me of the passing of our good friend and long-time colleague Sharon Gallagher. I remembered the first time Sharon and I met in my office on Dwight Way just below Shattuck several decades before. My wife Deborah and I had left our prior group association, and were searching for a smaller clinical office she and I could share. New College was looking for a new subtenant, and we immediately clicked. Within a week, we were part of the New College family, and integral parts of the wondrous life of Sharon Gallagher.
Sharon immediately struck me not only as seriously intellectual and deeply spiritual, but avid in her pursuit of social justice. Immediately we discovered a slew of mutual friends from Episcopal priest Dick York, to Biblical scholar Robert Alter, to my doctoral assessment professor Margaret Thaler Singer. We also discovered how much we appreciated each other’s company, and from the inception of our tenancy, instead of eating lunch, I would most often spend an hour each day at the office delving with Sharon into topics ranging from spirituality and Biblical Hebrew to the income gap ever-increasing globally and here at home in the US. Sharon was an inquiring mind deeply committed to her faith and to the welfare of all humanity. Most importantly, Sharon was a truly spiritual daughter of Our Creator and Savior.
Not only in her heart and mind, but also in her teachings Sharon was a genuinely religious individual who embodied in her thoughts and deeds the precepts of her Savior: universal justice, loving kindness, and compassion for all humanity. Many find solace in religion and use it to cope with their lives, but Sharon raised her religiosity to a higher plane, finding not only that solace, but exploring what such dedication to universal wisdom, truth and justice means in its translation into the realities of our current world. Sharon was a genuine agent of Tikkun Olam, making this world a better place.
Her last decade was not an easy one for Sharon, who suffered from a chronically more debilitating disease. Deb and I, Susan and Steve, and oodles of other friends and colleagues, those close and even the more distant, indeed all who were touched by the life of Sharon Gallagher, find it is extremely difficult to cope with Sharon’s death. But we can rest assured that Sharon is now in a much better place with the very force of the Universe she so loved and revered. Her place is with an El Malee Rachamim, a God replete with Compassion celebrating Eternal Peace, Righteousness and Justice. Sharon Gallagher was a warrior for all that is good, right, just and spiritual in humanity, and each of us who has been touched by her presence will remain so forever.
May all Sharon’s paths be ways of Eternal Peace, and May her Memory Be for a Blessing.
Dr. Edward J. Hyman
R. Nevitt Sanford Professor Emeritus
of Psychiatry, Psychology & Law
Mark Labberton
To Sharon’s beloved family,
The loss of “our” Sharon hits on a number of levels, and it all adds up both to sadness and to gratitude for her uniqueness, her restless peacefulness, and her peaceful restlessness. Her lovely smile, the glide in her gait, the coy twinkle in her honesty and humor, the gentle passion of her creativity, writing, and commitments were all among Sharon’s many gifts. She persisted—oh, she persisted!—in her leadership of Radix, and we who have been subscribers and cheerleaders, have received the rich bounty of her love, courage, and resilience.
As her friend, as her pastor, as a partner in justice, and as a sheer admirer, I grieve Sharon’s passing, but I rejoice she has now been released from the prison of her disease. I hold every confidence by faith that Sharon is now held in our Lord’s everlasting arms with love and joy, the One who is making a Kingdom when all will be made well.
I loved Sharon and her bearing in the world. She gave many of us so much.
With prayers for peace and hope.
Regan McMahon
Remembering Sharon
When I was in grad school at UC Berkeley, I met Sharon Gallagher through a friend who went to the same house church—something I’d never heard of and didn’t even know was a possible worship option. My friend figured Sharon and I would hit it off, and we did. So, when an apartment opened up in her small, four-unit building on McKinley Street near Berkeley City Hall, Sharon let me know it was available and I quickly snapped it up and lived there from 1975 to 1982. She lived on the first floor and I lived on the second. We wore out the carpet on those stairs, running up and down to chat, sip tea, talk about everything from politics and religion to romantic entanglements, the latest movie we’d seen, book we’d read, or concert we’d attended, or the latest piece we’d written for publication. She was the editor and movie critic of Radix, and I became a rock critic for a local music magazine and then an editor, feature writer, and book critic at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Between the two of us, there was often a cross-pollination of subject matter, like when she’d interview a recording artist she’d learned was a Christian or I’d review a book for the Chronicle that I could reframe from a Christian perspective for a Radix review. I was able to do that for my last review for Radix, in 2019, of a biography of Fred Rogers that revealed how his faith informed his vision for his long-running children’s TV series, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, as well as the values he brought to his media career. He was an ordained Presbyterian minister, which I hadn’t known but Sharon did. Her response to my email pitch was, “This sounds great! Mister Rogers — what a sweetheart. My old friend Doug D.’s father was a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh and knew Mr. R. You are keeping Radix fresh!”
Through the Chronicle I got an opportunity to interview South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and was able to tailor a piece for Radix from that. After I left the Chronicle and became the book editor for Common Sense Media, I called Sharon’s attention to a riveting graphic novel titled The Faithful Spy, about German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s courageous decision to turn his faith into action by getting involved in a plot to kill Hitler. She immediately assigned it to me, telling me in email, “It would be an interesting (and surprising) review for Radix.”
Sharon loved challenging her readers, exploring the intersection of media and religion, and including voices from various faith traditions. It was fun having her as my editor as well as my close friend. I only wrote for the journal occasionally, but as a subscriber I enjoyed hearing her voice come through my mail slot in both her movie reviews and her editorial choices.
Sharon eventually left her downstairs apartment but only moved across the street, so it was still easy to walk over and keep the conversation going. We also talked on the phone like a couple of teenagers, especially after I got married and moved to Oakland. Sharon was the Maid of Honor at my wedding in 1981. We saw each other less after I had kids, but we’d catch up on the phone, grab lunch in downtown Berkeley near her office, and we kept up a tradition of taking each other out to dinner for our birthdays, in addition to sometimes going to movies, concerts, and book events together. Things changed when she moved to Red Bluff, but we still exchanged Christmas cards, until that became too difficult for her.
My friendship with Sharon remains one of the most meaningful relationships of my life. She was beautiful inside and out, and I will always remember the twinkle in her eye and her joyous laugh. I will never forget her brilliance, her curious mind, her passion for ideas, her outrage at injustice, her caring nature, her delightful sense of humor, her love of music and delicious food and, of course, movies. I have a cute photo of her grinning on the couch at one of our annual Oscar parties, probably ready to make a wisecrack about one of the actresses’ kooky dresses. That’s how I’ll remember Sharon: quick-witted and fun-loving, having a good time with good friends.
Jeannie Matulis
I remember being so impressed with Sharon. She was so beautiful inside and out, and so cool. Really smart, too. Best of all, she put God first. God bless her family, and all who will continue to miss her here on earth. May she rest joyfully in peace in Christ.
Richard Mouw
[Reading the obituary David Gill wrote, Rich responded]…I was moved to tears!😭
Mary Holder Naegeli
Truly a loss, not only of friendship but of voice. She demonstrated to me the power of the pen.
Dan Ouellette
I was blessed by her love of the literary word. Sharon was vital in helping me launch my career writing about musicians and the creative process in their lives. I wrote the Radix music reviews and portraits since the ’80s in every issue until the time she stepped down as my editor. She championed my stories and cheered me on for more. Even though I moved from Berkeley in ‘99 to pursue my writing career in NYC, I continued writing for her. She was special and blessed.
Shirley Palmer
Thank you, David for your thoughtful analysis of not only who Sharon was but what she did to keep the conversation regarding the centrality of Christ and Jesus’ teachings for the world to remember in all aspects of our lives. I remember Sharon well and I know that Earl had both admiration and deep respect for her witness in the world. May she rest in peace in the arms of the Savior.
Gisele Perez
Sharon and I went to interview Judith Jamison and another member of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater—way back in the old days—(such a thrill for me) for Right On, when they performed in Berkeley.
Susan Phillips
What to say about this remarkable woman who was my friend and colleague for nearly half a century? The quality that first comes to my mind is that Sharon was a gentlewoman, a truly gentle soul and friend of Jesus. One of her highest compliments for a person was that he or she was “without guile.” Sharon was without guile. (Knowing Sharon helped me become more conscious of my own guile!) While she had significant goals that required steady perseverance and strategic calculation for deadlines, she never deceived or manipulated others in order to achieve those goals or to promote herself.
As much as any person I’ve known, Sharon was consistently kind and thoughtful. Across all our years of friendship, she showed me what following Jesus looks like. Sometimes when she and I would be irritated by another person and enjoying sharing that dislike with each other, Sharon, with a twinkle in her eye and quoting her dear mother Dorothy, would say that the irritating person was probably no worse than “me and thee.” Yes.
There’s some irony in thinking of Sharon as a gentlewoman—such an old-fashioned word—because she’s the person who introduced me to the field of Biblical feminism. Within Protestant evangelicalism, she was a pioneer in feminism, a stalwart and articulate pioneer, yet also gentle. Sharon helped clarify and proclaim the place of women as designed, made, and inspired by God in our bodies, lives, and ministries. In the 1970s Sharon created a course for New College Berkeley, “Women in Biblical Perspective,” that was foundational to our curriculum for thirty years, a course she also taught for other colleges and seminaries (even my mother audited one session!). Sharon was one of two female signatories of the historic 1973 “Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern,” a call by Christian leaders for Jesus’ followers to engage in issues of justice and to reject racism, economic injustice, violence, and sexism.
Sharon spoke up for women in God’s kingdom in ways that people—including those who disagreed with her—could hear. Even in debate forums, she modeled the biblical truth that the mark of the Christian is love, not judgmentalism. Sharon also was a person who cared about the poor and intentionally lived a life marked by frugality and generosity.
Sharon is known well for having been the editor of Radix magazine for most of its, now, nearly fifty years of life. This magazine would not have stayed in print (and been able to transition to its online format edited by Matthew Steem under the umbrella ministry of New College Berkeley, now directed by Craig Wong) were it not for Sharon’s careful, faithful, and sacrificial work. In 1978 I joined the magazine’s board of trustees and served with Sharon until 2019 when she retired from her position as editor and publisher. As a member of Radix’s board, and also its editorial board, I have seen up close just how unstinting Sharon’s response to God’s call has been in this work. In the ‘80s we wrestled with machinery that printed out mailing labels. In recent years we pondered how to move to an online platform.
Sharon may be the only woman to have served as editor and publisher of a Christian magazine for more than forty years. Radix is a distinctive magazine, so unlike others I’ve read, because it was shaped by the character and vision of Sharon Gallagher. The articles Sharon published in the magazine are long and thoughtful, allowing space to wrestle with ideas and be transformed by the light of God’s grace that shines through them. She published articles by seasoned authors and also nurtured new writers who showed promise. The longtime commitment to poetry is a distinctive blessing of Radix and, given poetry’s small readership, that commitment, like the one not to advertise, has been an act of costly discipleship.
In the pages of Radix magazine, in the 2010 Radix anthology Where Faith Meets Culture which Sharon edited, and in her earlier book Finding Faith, Sharon gave voice and audience to people of faith, some of whom would not otherwise be heard. The magazine’s tag line is “Where Faith Meets Culture.” Sharon’s faith met and changed culture.
In 2009 for the fortieth anniversary of Radix, using the founding 1969 date of the tabloid Right On which preceded Radix (and which Sharon edited with David Gill for several years), the Radix board wanted to honor Sharon. Without letting Sharon know what we were up to, Luci Shaw and I invited Sharon’s writer-friends to send us tributes which we then bound in a book and presented to her. Philip Yancey wrote these words of appreciation:
The world was in chaos forty years ago, and the church felt helpless in the Sixties. You helped bridge the gap, by explaining a changing culture to the church and addressing timeless truths to the culture. You took positions that seemed radical at the time and, holy cow, seem radical still. That you have carried the torch for forty years proves how apt is that word “timeless.” Well done, faithful servant.
While continuing to edit Radix, Sharon also served from 1994 through 2016 as the associate director of New College Berkeley, an academic institution she served in various ways from its inception. This is a position like that of a dean of a seminary, and requires academic and administrative skills, as well as a great deal of grit and diplomacy. As the executive director of New College for those same years (and more), I was an up-close witness to that part of Sharon’s ministry, and I can tell you she did that work, too, with grace, kindness, and faithful sacrifice.
Sharon’s interest and expertise in faith expressed through the arts led her to teach courses on film, create conferences on writing, and design all of the publications through which New College Berkeley reached out to our constituency and the world. Her warm personal connections with Christians in many countries, some of them well-known people with full lives, enabled us to bring excellent teachers to Berkeley to address our audiences.
Sharon and I worked in adjacent offices five days a week for twenty-two years. We were close friends as well as colleagues, sometimes traveled together, and always had a monthly lunch with other dear friends. There were times up in our third-floor office aerie (which we shared with our Financial Manager par excellence Beth Henry Criss) when I was exhausted or would lose hope. Perhaps a grant proposal worked on for months was rejected. Or a recently hired staff person suddenly resigned. At times like that, Sharon lifted my spirits. Sometimes Sharon would lapse into an Irish brogue and offer pithy, wry words of encouragement. At other times she would sing and, like the entire Siemens clan it seems, she had a great voice. Always she would pray. Ten months ago in Red Bluff when I last saw Sharon, she was surrounded by her loving cousins, and under the sheltering oaks she sang and prayed with us all.
You’ve heard about “tough love.” Sharon exhibited what might be called “tough hope.” Sharon was faithful to two ministries that God called her to, ministries that had their share of desert seasons. She trusted in God’s grace, knowing that that didn’t ensure an easy experience, or even seasonal rain.
Sharon showed tough hope in relationships, too. She grew up during a time when many Christians didn’t acknowledge the ministerial gifts of women. Nevertheless, she kept alive the hope she encountered in Scripture and in her own heart. This was the hope that God would find a way to allow her gifts to be expressed, and that God would do that for others, too, who were gifted but not acknowledged. Radix and New College Berkeley gave Sharon places to use her gifts and to cultivate the expression of other people’s gifts.
I saw Sharon maintain tough hope over the decades. Some relationships were subjected to the high seas of political conflict, and others buffeted by theological differences. Beginning her ministry in Berkeley in the late Sixties, as an evangelical woman earning a Master’s degree at a Graduate Theological Union seminary and also being a very beautifulwoman with strong Christian faith and moral commitments, Sharon encountered many challenges. Her hope of following Jesus in all these circumstances didn’t falter. We’re all beneficiaries of her faithfulness to God and the seasoning she experienced. I am so deeply grateful to have known Sharon. Neither she nor I had biological sisters. We were each other’s sister, by God’s grace.
Elaine Rottmann
I am so sad to learn of Sharon’s passing. I worked with her at Radix from 1981-1988 and then again in the 2010s, right through her final issue. She is one of my mentors and inspirations. My sincere condolences. You [David Gill] and Sharon were leaders in a significant and impactful movement and I am sure you shared many treasured moments. With deep sympathy.
Stephen Scott
So sorry to learn this. A treasured acquaintance/ friend since the late 1970s, and kind and generous towards me / my work via the open pages of Radix.
Luci Shaw
Susan dear, Thanks for letting me know about Sharon’s death. I loved working with her as Radix poetry editor for many years, and she kept the magazine afloat even when the resources were few. It was fun to drive from Menlo Park and visit in Berkeley for lunch with her before the very un-boardlike board meetings. She was such a blithe spirit and a faithful servant of the kingdom. I keep wondering why I’m still here when so many brave souls have left before me to reap their reward. I wish someone would escape the grave and visit us with some travel information post mortem. I just wrote a very bad poem about Lazarus, in which he reported that he was “able to see around corners,” in the blessed continuum.
Bill Squires
Sharon Gallagher – how I experienced her
Quiet, relaxed, unassuming, often soft spoken, disarming smile, focused, plugged in, lots of wisdom, a thinker, quick mind, charming, sparkle in her eyes, don’t remember seeing her mad or angry, pleasant to be around, easy to work with on a team, Biblically solid, uplifting, didn’t take up a lot of psychological space, rarely insisting on her way, always called me Billy Squires, loved our daughter Rebekah when she was born in 1975, always asking about her, checking on her….
Cathy Squires
She liked Rebekah (our first born). She would have a smile and sparkling eyes when she would look at her. I remember one time Sharon said to her at Easter, “Did mommy make you an Easter basket?” Since I grew up in Hong Kong and was new to the American culture I didn’t even know what an Easter basket was. I was always very, very impressed by the quality of Right On and Radix.
Doug Stevens
Thank you, David. I appreciate your close, very productive partnership with Sharon in the 1970s and beyond — with the CWLF, Right On, and New College Berkeley. Your collaboration and friendship obviously meant a lot to you, supported and elevated her, and blessed many who benefitted from your combined efforts over the decades. I especially enjoyed her publication of Radix over the years, and all the insightful biblical, theological and cultural commentary that she and her incredible collection of writers provided. Archived and still relevant. Sharon was a flower child, a true follower of Jesus, a beautiful soul, and an icon of the Jesus People Movement … that we can only hope and pray is being revived in a new generation.
Her connections, contributions and accomplishments were even more impressive than I imagined. I was at Westmont in ’66-’68 with Sharon and even had a date with her once. I transferred to Cal Berkeley in the Fall of ’68, was active with CWLF (and Young Life), graduated, got married, and went down to Fuller … as Sharon was coming to Berkeley via L’Abri. Sorry I missed that exciting season with you all. It turns out the Jesus Movement was kicking in SoCal, too!
Nancy K. Stevens
So sorry to hear this, but I imagine the angels in heaven are rejoicing as they welcome her.
Scott Michael Thomas
I am very sorry to hear this, another of the mainstays of my world when I was an NCB student. She will be in my thoughts and prayers …. pace e bene.
Steve Turner
I met Sharon in September 1972 on my first USA visit. She chaperoned me around Berkeley and San Francisco and then out to Point Reyes and Muir Woods. She then came down to LA with me and we stayed at her family home in Tujunga. In one day she took me to Kris Kristofferson’s house, a rehearsal studio where I interviewed Tim Buckley, and the Beverly Hills Hotel to meet with Marjoe Gortner. While I interviewed Kristofferson for a British rock magazine, she sat down with Rita Coolidge and interviewed her for Radix/Right On. I’m sure she came to London in the 1970s and then in 1979 I met her with T Bone Burnett at the Warfield Theatre when Dylan was giving the first of his ‘born again’ concerts. In 1993 I took my wife Mo and children Nathan and Lianne to meet her in Berkeley. This was our first family trip to the USA. Sharon was always lively, funny, bright, faithful and humble. I always kept in touch with her and I will miss her. No one else will be the first person to take me around San Francisco and LA!
Peggy Vanek-Titus
My heart hurts. Beloved indeed—forever friend and roommate for several years, Berkeley, in “the way back years.” Sharon enjoyed coffee first thing in the AM, and 1/2 grapefruit without fail after every dinner. I had a small TV in my room, on the floor no less, and she loved sitting on my bed, (also on the floor), watching “her shows.” Intelligent, decisive, with a beautiful smile and speaking voice—always a little eye twinkle. She once “gifted” me a handwritten letter that Charlie Manson had written to Radix. Charlie Manson had been writing to complain about mentions of him in an interview Steve Turner did with Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues. Sharon, He’s got you now—Jesus, that is. Peace indeed.
Mary S. Van Leeuwen
She was a gutsy lady!
Jim Wallis
I will miss Sharon Gallagher. I have missed her ever since she went to live with her family when she needed more care. For many years, actually decades, we would have a coffee or a meal together when I was in the Bay Area, often at the place on the pier overlooking the water with a great view of the city. Our friendship goes back to the early days of both Right On/ Radix in Berkeley, and the Post-American/Sojourners in Chicago where our group was in seminary. Both of us were part of what was then called “the young evangelicals” movement who were trying to change evangelicalism from mostly a privatized religion (actually we both came from the Plymouth Brethren background) to a more public faith as well that engaged the world and embraced social justice.
Sharon was an early voice of evangelical feminism and was one of the few women who were original signatories of the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern, convened in Chicago, in 1973. I was immediately attracted to Sharon’s intellect, wide ranging reading, great writing ability, clear editorial competence, and deep faith. She was a good listener to people which led to her tremendous interviewing skills. She interviewed big names and personalities in the world of film, music, and politics for a small alternative publication based in Berkeley. Part of the reason people agreed to be interviewed by Sharon is that she was so interesting herself and wonderful to be around. Deep questions always came from her head and heart. She was a bold if humble leader and made an impact wherever she went. She was also very beautiful and we had a romantic interlude in our long-standing friendship. In Chicago, when our band of seminarians decided to move from Chicago, we were considering three places to go: Washington, Philadelphia, or the Bay Area. I often wondered what combining our early publications, Radix and Post-American might have become. But we ended up moving to Washington, D.C. and becoming Sojourners.
Sharon Gallagher’s legacy includes being part of an early movement to redeem evangelicalism which now has a place in church history. Believing that the gospel of Jesus Christ can speak up and stand up to culture and politics, is something she and I believed together, and is now more important than ever in America. And being a woman in that male church world took real courage, purpose, and determination. So many people in Berkeley and around the world are so grateful for their relationship with Sharon, including me.
Jim Wallis,
Founder of Sojourners and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair of Faith and Justice at Georgetown University.
Bear Winkle
Sharon was an incredible, brilliant person. A inspiration to many. Sharon’s deep love for the Lord Jesus was enhanced by Sharon’s understanding of God’s love, forgiveness, and redemption.
May Sharon’s memory remain vivid and a blessing to all.
Craig Wong
Dear Sharon, we rubbed shoulders once or twice back in the mid-80s when I was on InterVarsity staff, and you were the fearless leader of Radix Magazine, and we had neighboring offices in the American Baptist Seminary of the West. One of my deep regrets is not having taken time to get to know you more, to converse over coffee, and to learn what it’s been like for you to be a gospel subversive in tumultuous times, whether calling for an end to war, critiquing the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, or championing the rights and concerns of women, as you courageously did through the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern. I am humbled by the honor and privilege of building upon your legacy as the current ED of New College Berkeley and also, as of this year, Radix Magazine. Your prophetic spirit is needed now more than ever, and I hope and pray that our ministries will stay faithful to the work and message you gave voice to. When it is my time to join you in the next life, we’ll have lots to catch up on. I look forward to that!
Philip Yancey
In the 1960s, the ground shifted beneath our feet. I began a career in journalism about the same time as Sharon, a time when I was recovering from childhood wounds and questioning everything about my faith. Our magazines could hardly have been more unlike: mine (Campus Life) a slick evangelical youth magazine from an organization founded by Billy Graham; hers a daring, intellectually stimulating journal that did not bring the word “slick” to mind. Yet we shared the same goal of deconstructing our faith (before the phrase existed) in a way that kept what should be kept, discarded what should be discarded, and stretched the minds and souls of loyal readers. Sharon showed the way for many. And, by the way, Radix lives on, a survivor in a genre that has seen many casualties, including Campus Life.
Raymond Yee
Sharon was more important to me than I realized—it has taken her all-too-early passing to make me understand what she meant to me. Radix has been part of my life for the entirety of my time in the Bay Area, and Sharon was part of an older generation of cool Christians I looked up to all these years. The interactions I remember—and I’ve searched my email and photo archives for more traces—were scattered but meaningful: board meetings over lunch at Le Bateau Ivre as the board heard Sharon describe future issues; Sharon’s gracious presence at various dim sum outings; that last lunch in Berkeley that my wife Laura and I had on the patio at La Note in 2019; the road trip to visit Sharon in Red Bluff last fall, which would turn out to be the last time I got to see her. I’m forever grateful to Sharon for bringing me into her orbit, thankful that she gave me a chance to write about things that matter profoundly to me: the music of Bach and the practice of Christian community and hospitality.
When I served as chair of the Radix board and helped close the offices in 2023 after Sharon relinquished her editorship, I felt the tangible weight of her decades of work—30 volumes of the print run of Radix, faithfully stewarded by Sharon, totaling over 4,000 pages, nearly 3 million words. When I was receiving the issues one by one over the years, I didn’t sense how they would add up. I still don’t know the answer but want to find out. Early on, I saw Radix simply as Sharon’s baby—her fierce determination kept it alive, and if she stopped work on it, that would be it, no more Radix. But now I understand more: Sharon managed to knit together a world of people in common pursuit of meaning, life that saw in Jesus implications for the world. There were famous contributors, there were “everyday” people (but remarkable in ways that God knows) who saw something so valuable in what Radix represents. We have caught her vision, we follow in her footsteps. We don’t know where God will take us next. I remain profoundly grateful for being Sharon’s friend and fellow pilgrim.
Cynthia Young
I’m sorry to hear of her passing. I enjoyed working with her on my own writing. She was wonderful and supportive.
Laurie Cassells Zimmerman
This news breaks my heart. She was the best person—as a friend and as my “boss” and mentor at Radix. I adored her. Back in the ‘70s, as a huge fan of Right On, I got to meet Sharon, and then came out to Berkeley to work for her. She was a life-changer in every good way.
Grieve with Those Who Grieve
And now we enter this,
this season,
this unplanned season, mostly ill-prepared,
this longer season of mourning,
of grief on grief,
of grief’s lost bliss and kiss.
And reason?
Our reason struggles to keep pace, impaired.
“Watchman, what of the morning?”
Our plea: “Night be brief.”
And one-by-one-by-one
our losses,
tear-flooded losses of our once best friends,
add undiluted sorrow,
friend-by-friend.
We shush attempts to shun
albatrosses.
Not any one among us now pretends.
And will there be tomorrow?
Some cause to intend?
Then obliged into the deep,
an ocean,
a depth of knowing, being loved and known;
with new, eternal essence,
no raging sea;
into that deep, with a leap
of devotion,
we know now that we will not be alone.
And resting in a Presence,
we more fully see.
—Robert Allen Nelson, 2025 (a fellow member of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, poem inspired by Sharon’s passing)
Brief Professional Biography (mostly written by Sharon years ago)
Sharon Gallagher received her B.A. from Westmont College in Santa Barbara and her Master’s of Theological Studies degree from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley. She is the author of Finding Faith: Life-Changing Encounters with Christ, a book that explores “the mystery and miracle of conversion” through the stories of mid-life converts, and she edited the Radix anthology, Where Faith Meets Culture.
For many years, Sharon was also the editor and film critic for Radix magazine, “Where Christian Faith Meets Contemporary Culture.” In addition to reviewing films, she interviewed many cultural icons, including: Mother Teresa, Garrison Keillor, Wendell Berry, Anne Lamott, and Madeleine L’Engle. She wrote hundreds of reviews and articles: for Eternity, Sojourners, The Christian Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, Daughters of Sarah, and other publications. She was Film and Arts editor for Sojourners Magazine for two years and her “Mars Hill” column (media reviews) ran for five years in Eternity magazine. She contributed essays on “Movies” to The Dictionary of Practical Christianity (InterVarsity: 1997) and on “Movies” and “Feminism” for The Encyclopedia of Christian Ethics (Thomas Nelson: 1986). She contributed chapters to the books, Our Struggle to Serve, What They Did Right, and The Best Preaching on Earth.
In addition to teaching at N.C.B., Sharon taught classes at schools including Regent College, Ontario Theological Seminary, and Beijing University (with Educational Resources and Referrals—China) and offered chapel talks and lectures at many colleges and seminaries, including Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon Conwell. She presented on “Mystery, Morality and Meaning: What Woody Allen and Others are Saying About Our Culture” for the Hope College Veritas Forum and served as a panelist at the City of the Angels Film Festival.
Classes Sharon taught at New College Berkeley include Women in Biblical Perspective, The Movies: A Christian View, The Media and the Word: Lenses for Viewing Life’s Key Issues (with David Gill), and Writing Your Life.
Sharon served as editor of Right On! (with David Gill from 1971-1973) from 1971 to 1976, as editor/publisher of Radix from 1976-2019, and as associate director of New College Berkeley from 1994-2016.
Sharon Gallagher served on the founding boards of New College Berkeley and Evangelicals for Social Action. She was one of two female signatories to the 1973 Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern, a call by Christian leaders for Jesus’ followers to engage in issues of justice and to reject racism, economic injustice, violence, and sexism. Later Sharon helped found Christian Feminism Today (formerly the Evangelical Women’s Caucus). She was a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley.