In Memoriam
Rita R. Semel, ICP Founder
(November 15, 1921 - May 13, 2026)
Dear Friends and Supporters of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio,
When we recently celebrated our Thirtieth Anniversary at the Chapel on May 3rd, seated front-and-center in the first row was 104 year old Rita Semel. She was a founder of the ICP and had served on its board ever since. What a blessing that she was present for the anniversary! On May 13th, however, ten days following that memorable event, Rita quietly passed away.
Rita Semel lived her life totally in the spirit of her Jewish faith, that is, dedicated to Tikkun Olam (Repair the World). Her numerous, lifelong accomplishments perfectly reflect the words of anthropologist Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Rita became an icon, a legend, in San Francisco Bay Area Interfaith relations. Read any one of Rita's online obituaries and you will be astounded by the breadth and depth of her accomplishments. Her legacy is unequalled.
Rita loved our Interfaith Chapel. She believed it was unique among America's places of worship in that it is the only sacred space specifically dedicated to Interfaith. She time-and-again reiterated her concern that the Chapel be protected and preserved for future generations as a beacon of interfaith collaboration. We will do everything in our power to honor her wishes.
As you are aware, we continue to push forward with our Capital Campaign to renovate the Chapel and also establish a permanent home for the McDonald Peace Windows. The principal renovation of the lower floor of the Chapel will be the creation of a unique gathering space that will bear Rita's name. This will be a fitting way to honor her for generations to come. We believe that your continuing support of our ongoing Campaign will be the most significant way to support Rita's vision. Please join us in preserving her legacy by donating to our Campaign.
We have attached a short video of Rita as she reflected on her many years of service to the interfaith movement. It was filmed just days before ICP's thirtieth anniversary. We hope you will treasure it as we have.
Many blessings to you - always!
When we recently celebrated our Thirtieth Anniversary at the Chapel on May 3rd, seated front-and-center in the first row was 104 year old Rita Semel. She was a founder of the ICP and had served on its board ever since. What a blessing that she was present for the anniversary! On May 13th, however, ten days following that memorable event, Rita quietly passed away.
Rita Semel lived her life totally in the spirit of her Jewish faith, that is, dedicated to Tikkun Olam (Repair the World). Her numerous, lifelong accomplishments perfectly reflect the words of anthropologist Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Rita became an icon, a legend, in San Francisco Bay Area Interfaith relations. Read any one of Rita's online obituaries and you will be astounded by the breadth and depth of her accomplishments. Her legacy is unequalled.
Rita loved our Interfaith Chapel. She believed it was unique among America's places of worship in that it is the only sacred space specifically dedicated to Interfaith. She time-and-again reiterated her concern that the Chapel be protected and preserved for future generations as a beacon of interfaith collaboration. We will do everything in our power to honor her wishes.
As you are aware, we continue to push forward with our Capital Campaign to renovate the Chapel and also establish a permanent home for the McDonald Peace Windows. The principal renovation of the lower floor of the Chapel will be the creation of a unique gathering space that will bear Rita's name. This will be a fitting way to honor her for generations to come. We believe that your continuing support of our ongoing Campaign will be the most significant way to support Rita's vision. Please join us in preserving her legacy by donating to our Campaign.
We have attached a short video of Rita as she reflected on her many years of service to the interfaith movement. It was filmed just days before ICP's thirtieth anniversary. We hope you will treasure it as we have.
Many blessings to you - always!
Rita Semel, a native New Yorker, first came to San Francisco when her parents moved here in 1939. After graduating from Barnard College, she married and traveled with her soldier husband until he was shipped overseas. Returning to San Francisco, Rita worked first as a copy boy, then as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. When she went to work for the Chronicle, she had to sign a document, as did many women at that time that she would give up her job when the men returned after the War. When her husband, Max, returned from Army service in Europe in 1945, they settled in San Francisco and Rita became the first Associate Editor of the newly formed Jewish Community Bulletin. She retired from the Bulletin in 1950 when her first daughter, Elisabeth, was born and began doing free-lance public relations for the March of Dimes, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Israeli Consulate (then located in Los Angeles).
The 1950s and 1960s were a tumultuous time when San Francisco and the nation were struggling for integration, civil rights, and inter-ethnic and interfaith harmony. In 1964, Rita served on the committee that organized the San Francisco Conference on Religion and Race, and she became its coordinator for the next 25 years.
It was during this period that she became a consultant to the Jewish Community Relations Council, and eventually joined the staff as Associate Director. Among the issues she worked on was overturning Proposition 14, a successful ballot initiative that had nullified the Rumford Fair Housing Law which prohibited racial and other discrimination in housing. Ultimately, Proposition 14 was declared unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court.
Rita served as Associate Director and then Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, where she built important coalitions and organized campaigns to advance a just society and a secure Jewish future. For more than five decades, Rita has mobilized broad coalitions to advance common causes of social concern, worked to advocate for those most in need, and built long lasting relationships among the Bay Area’s many communities.
In addition to her important role as a co-founder of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio and the San Francisco Interfaith Council, Rita served in a prominent leadership role as the first Chair of the Global Council for the United Religions Initiative. She served on the boards of Catholic Charities CYO, Family Services America, San Francisco Resource and Leadership Council, Friends of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, Jewish Family & Children’s Services, San Francisco Children’s Rights Coalition, San Francisco Family Service Agency, and Interfaith Center at the Presidio, San Francisco Homelessness Board, and Intergroup Clearinghouse. Rita served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She was recognized for her distinguished service by many of these organizations, and was acknowledged by the Islamic Society of San Francisco, Bay Area Cultural Connections, and United Muslims of America for her work as a “longtime Jewish activist and interfaith pioneer.” Rita was honored by the California State Assembly as the Woman of the Year from the 13th District, as well as with the United Way’s Mortimer Fleishhacker Jr. Volunteer Award and the National Council of Jewish Women’s Hannah G. Solomon Award for her leadership contributions. In 1990, Rita received the Rosa Parks Award from Women in Community Service. In 1995, she was a delegate to the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in China. She also attended the 1985 conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 2008, Rita was honored by the Islamic Society of San Francisco for “outstanding service and achievement in interfaith dialogue among Abrahamic faiths.” In 2011 the San Francisco Interfaith Council created the Rita R. Semel Endowment Fund for Interfaith Work. She received the San Francisco Foundation’s Community Leadership Award in 2012 for her “life-long successes in creating healthy, just and inclusive communities in the Bay Area and worldwide, and for building bridges of understanding to help alleviate poverty and end discrimination.” In 2014 she was honored at the annual Catholic Charities CYO Loaves & Fishes Gala for her more than half a century of being a champion of San Francisco’s interfaith dialogue with their “Faith in Action” award.
Rita was the co-founder of the San Francisco Interfaith Council in 1990, and her tenure was marked by orchestrating significant programs which have a direct impact on the lives of San Franciscans – from the emergency winter shelter program for the homeless, for which she had galvanized multi-faith and City cooperation, to the chaplaincy program at the Youth Guidance Center.
Rita served as the unofficial, trusted ambassador of the Jewish community to other religious communities for decades. Through the Jewish Community Relations Council, and later working on a national level through Project Interchange, Rita led dozens of clergy from other faiths to Israel, to learn about the Jewish community’s relationship to the land, people, and their history. She introduced religious leaders from throughout the Bay Area to Judaism, Jewish history, and the American and worldwide Jewish experience.
Rita served on the board of Clinic by the Bay, Congregation Emanu-El, Grace Cathedral and In-Home Health Service Public Authority. Rita was appointed by Mayor Edwin Lee to the Human Services Agency Human Services Commission.
After 51 years of marriage, Max Semel died in 1994. He was preceded in death by their daughter, Jane, who died in an accident shortly before her 18th birthday. Their daughter, Elisabeth, is a criminal defense attorney and is the Director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
Rita passed away at the remarkable age of 104 on May 13, 2026.
