Everyday Encounter: A former sausageman’s health issues don’t dampen his positive attitude

William Schwarz of Tiburon grew up in Belvedere. He played football in high school and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he played rugby, a familiar sport because his mother was from the seaport town of Troon, Scotland, about an hour’s drive southwest of Glasgow. (Francisco Martinez / The Ark)

William Schwarz is at Fountain Plaza on one of his daily walks, headed toward Rustic Bakery to grab a cookie.

While the cookies are to satisfy his sweet tooth, the regular walks are doctor’s orders, says the 69-year-old Tiburon resident. Schwarz has undergone eight brain surgeries throughout his life due to a tumor on his left frontal lobe that has kept returning.

His doctors suggested the walks as a way “to keep busy,” Schwarz says, “so I’m doing that.”

Schwarz was born in San Francisco but grew up in Belvedere, moving there with his family at 8 years old because his mother wanted to live near the water. He worked in the family business, running the sales division at the Schwarz Sausage Co., selling bratwurst, no-nitrate chicken and beef products. It was established in San Francisco as a German butcher shop and sausage business in 1911. He left the company about 1995, before it merged with Home Sausage Co. to become today’s Courage Production.

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