Elizabeth McVey Dawson

Elizabeth McVey Dawson died on December 2, 2019, in San Francisco, California. She is survived by her children, Michael Caulfield Bamford and Charlotte Hallam Bamford; her parents, Mary McVey and John Hallam Dawson; and a large extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins. She was born in San Francisco on April 8, 1976, and attended Lone Mountain Children’s Center, San Francisco Day School, and Crystal Springs Uplands School before graduating from San Francisco University High School in 1994. While in high school she rowed for the Pacific Rowing Club and served as its Captain. Elizabeth went on to Princeton where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1998. She rowed on the Varsity Crew and belonged to the Ivy Club and the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. After graduation, she worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York and then joined a start-up, Buzzsaw, in San Francisco. In 2004, she earned her MBA from the Harvard Business School. She worked at McKinsey in London before being recruited back to Goldman Sachs, where she worked in London and Hong Kong before returning to San Francisco in 2015. More recently, she assisted with the launch of several Asian investment funds. Elizabeth was an accomplished gymnast and rower, a flutist, a lifelong avid reader and an adventurous traveler. She excelled at so many things, from academics and athletics to her professional career, but especially at parenting. Elizabeth’s children were the delight of her life. She actively supported their schools, The Hamlin School and Cathedral School for Boys, and was engaged in numerous other family-centered volunteer activities, especially at the Exploratorium. Through her kindness and generosity, Elizabeth touched in a profound way the lives of hundreds of people. She was a magnificent mother, a devoted daughter, and a faithful friend. As an organ, eye, and tissue donor, she continued to share even in death, enabling others to live or see. Her love, her beautiful smile, her infectious laugh, her wonderful sense of humor, and her humble and gracious manner will be greatly missed. A memorial service was held at Grace Cathedral on January 9, 2020, with over 400 of her family and friends in attendance. Her ashes are interred at the Grace Cathedral Columbarium. The Elizabeth McVey Dawson ’94 Memorial Scholarship Endowment has been established at the San Francisco University High School to help provide, in perpetuity, financial aid to deserving students.