Dorothy Ercolino

Dorothy Ercolino was born on June 4, 1927 to Rocco and Maria Gagliani Piracci in Philadelphia PA. In 1932 the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where she attended public schools. The family moved to Menlo Park, CA in 1945. She attended the College of San Mateo. She began her newspaper career in the advertising service department proof reading at the old Palo Alto Times. She later moved on to the Display Advertising Dept. where she worked in theatre, entertainment, and political advertising. She also worked in the Promotion Dept. and coordinated Fashion sections with the Editorial Dept. Later she was a copy and layout artist and worked on speculative ads along with production ads for grocery stores, fashion shops, and automotive dealers. She was also a graphic artist in the Art Dept. She would also conduct tours of the paper. Several years later, she became the first woman display advertising sales representative at the Times. She lead the way for other women to follow. her first major account was with Town and Country Village Palo Alto, then Stanford shopping center. She handled large accounts such as Bullock's and Saks Fifth Avenue. She had a 25 year relationship with the Times. Dorothy loved family, friends, newspapers, and the roar of the press...and "being surrounded by 12 male sales reps". The was always a lot of joking and needling, but she developed a thick skin, and loved it all. The Times merged with the Redwood City Tribune to create the Peninsula Times Tribune. Finally Retiring two years after the sale of the Peninsula Times Tribune to the Tribune Co. She met her husband Antonio, when her mother introduced her to him in her home. She enjoyed painting, drawing, gardening, and traveling extensively with her husband in Europe, the U.S, and Mexico. She and her husband lived in Sonoma weekends for 10 years, before retiring in Sonoma in 1985. She was a lifetime member of the League for Historic Preservation and a lifetime member of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society, where she was a volunteer gift shop manager for several years, docent and exhibit chair at the museum. She updated and designed the Museum's brochure and represented the Society during the Bear Flag Sesquicentennial Celebration. She was a member of the Sonoma Valley Woman's Club and I.C.F. and she was a volunteer docent and exhibit chair at the Depot Museum. She is survived by... Maria Harvey, Roy Beck, grandchildren Grant Harvey, Rachel and Jesse Beck.