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Born in Vienna in 1896, Dr. Maria 'Mitzi' Kolisch devoted her life to medicine, science, and humanity. In the 1920s, amidst economic collapse in Austria and the looming Nazi invasion, Kolisch, along with her husband Otto Seligman and young son Mischa, sought refuge in Southern California. There, she contributed to agricultural research at the University of California, Riverside, focusing on the development of hybrid strains of cotton. Subsequently, she joined the Physics Department at UCLA but ultimately resigned when confronted with one of the infamous loyalty oaths posed during the McCarthy Era. Moving to San Francisco in the early 1950s, she utilized her radiology training to teach the proper handling of radioisotopes and consulted for Kaiser Permanente as they established their inaugural radiological lab.

Around the same time, Kolisch purchased a small home in the Diamond Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Located at 36 Amber Drive, the cozy, cedar-shingled farmhouse was one of only a few properties in the once-bucolic neighborhood. There, she built an artist’s studio and hosted an array of luminaries, including Albert Einstein, George Gershwin, Buckminster Fuller, Imogen Cunningham, and Ruth Asawa. Kolisch’s “party book” was filled with notable names, and her gatherings were legendary.

In the 1960s, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency set their sights on the meadows of Diamond Heights with plans to erect luxury condominiums and single-family homes. Using claims of “blight,” the agency began the process of evicting residents and claiming land for development. Not one to fold in the face of adversity, Kolisch “fought like a tiger” and was able to stay. Her cottage on Amber Drive was one of the only properties on the hillside that was spared.

When Kolisch died in 1987, she envisioned that her home would become housing for adolescents who had aged out of the foster care system. Charged with this mission, Mischa spent the last years of his life fulfilling his mother’s wishes and, at the age of 98, oversaw the groundbreaking of eight affordable family townhouses built by Habitat for Humanity. Today, a plaque stands in Kolisch's honor featuring a bas-relief based on a portrait taken by her friend, Imogen Cunningham.

Watch Mischa Seligman discuss the donation of land in San Francisco, in honor of his mother Maria 'Mitzi' Kolisch