SAN FRANCISCO - John E. Cahill, a construction contractor whose family-owned firm helped build San Francisco's skyline, has died of complications from Parkinson's Disease. He was 85.
Cahill, who died in San Rafael on Saturday, had been an active participant in San Francisco Bay area civic and religious institutions.
The U.S. Navy veteran made his name as president of the Cahill Construction Co. of San Francisco, the business his father started in 1915. Among the firm's more famous buildings are St. Mary's Cathedral, the San Francisco Hilton hotel, Opera Plaza and the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The firm also worked extensively in Marin County. In 1959, the American Institute of Architects honored Cahill for the construction of San Francisco's John Hancock building.
Cahill was a native San Franciscan who attended Lowell High School and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in engineering in 1936.
In his youth, Cahill was a mountaineer. He was credited with a first ascent of one of the Minarets, the formidable peaks in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range. He also served in World War II as an officer in the Navy Seabees.
Once in the business world, Cahill served on the board of directors of many large enterprises, as well as Dominican College and the Catholic Youth Association. He was also chairman of the president's council of the Jesuit School of Theology.
He is survived by his wife, Helen, of San Rafael; three sons, John E. Cahill Jr., of Kentfield, Gerald Cahill of Mill Valley, and Edward Cahill of Stockton; a daughter, Ann Fidanque, of Eugene, Ore.; two brothers, Richard Cahill of Ross and J. Peter Cahill of Woodside; and 12 grandchildren.
Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 at St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco.
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