Phyllis Finley Shorenstein

Phyllis J. Shorenstein, a founder of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, died in June 1994 at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center. Art, particularly Asian art, was an enduring interest in Mrs. Shorenstein's life. She joined with other San Franciscans to create the Asian Art Museum, which opened in Golden Gate Park in 1966. She served as a board member for many years and was one of the museum's 27 commissioners at her death. With her family, Mrs. Shorenstein established the Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The center was named in honor of her daughter, a journalist and radio news producer who died of cancer in 1986. Mrs. Shorenstein was born Phyllis Finley in Wellington, Kan., and attended Lone Mountain College in San Francisco. She was a volunteer ambulance driver at Travis Air Force Base when she met Walter Shorenstein, who was stationed there during World War II. She is survived by her husband of 49 years; two children, Carole Shorenstein-Hays and Douglas Shorenstein, both of San Francisco, and six grandchildren.