Sutherland was the author of Sutherland’s Handbook for Bicycle Repair and a former member of Berkeley’s Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative
BERKELEY, California (July 18, 2024) — Howard Sutherland died peacefully in his room in Oakland, California, on June 19, 2024. He was 75.
The eldest child of Betsy McCann Sutherland and William (Bill) Sutherland, Howard grew up in Kensington, Maryland, with his siblings Mac and Beth. Early on he learned to work with tools in the family’s basement workshop. The basement doubled as the practice space for his high school rock band, The Confusions, which performed for embassies in nearby Washington D.C. He earned Eagle Scout rank, was the editor of the high school literary journal, and rode a unicycle.
Howard dropped out of college in favor of travel, later quipping that he learned on the road. He took photography courses in London when his family lived in England. He led American Youth Hostel bicycle tours around Europe. In the States, he hitchhiked and rode freight trains several times across the country, eventually landing in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Summer of Love.
While working at the Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative in Berkeley as a member of the co-op, he began his career-defining effort to help bicycle shops run more efficiently, and by extension, help more people enjoy riding. Seeing the need to compile data on non-standardized bicycle parts, he wrote and self-published Sutherland’s Handbook for Bicycle Repair. He went on to publish six more editions of the book, widely considered the bike mechanics’ bible. For his book and other inventions, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the National Bicycle Dealers Association in 2014.
During the 40 years he ran his business he often biked to his office in Emeryville. He brought his binoculars on his commute, frequently stopping to watch birds along the East Bay waterfront. He loved the water, and he lived for several years in the early 1980s on his 1947 Chris-Craft boat at the Berkeley Marina. He continued to live and work within a mile of the shore until his advancing Parkinson’s forced a move to assisted living in 2016.
In 1983 Howard married Nancy Linn. With their children, Kory and Andrew, they enjoyed hiking, camping, and exploring the West Coast. Howard cherished family dinners, trips to the Exploratorium, and reading aloud. He amassed a large library and regularly sought out workshops and classes, especially related to health and wellness. Twice he traveled to Mexico to visit a Huichol shaman. Later in his life he visited Hawaii with his partner Kate Brookes, delighting in slack key guitar music and snorkeling. Throughout his life he found community and self-discovery through a range of therapies, ceremonies, and rituals.
Howard was predeceased by his parents and his brother Mac, with whom he had a shared experience of Parkinson’s. He is survived by his sister Beth Sutherland (Paul Kaplan), his children Kory Sutherland (Grant Chang) and Andrew Sutherland, granddaughter Olive Sutherland Chang, ex-wife Nancy Sutherland, partner Kate Brookes, nephews Jonah Sutherland, Alex Pajunas, Michael Sutherland, and Danny Kaplan, and many close friends.
A memorial service was held at the Berkeley City Club at 10 am on July 13, 2024. All who knew Howard are welcome. For those unable to attend, a recording is available at https://asuth.com/memorial.
While the Sutherland family is no longer connected to the Sutherland’s Handbook and other bike shop products, they can still be purchased here: https://www.sutherlandsbicycle.com
