Longtime Bookstore Leader Dies
Needless To Say, Eberhardt Was A Passionate Reader
The list of volunteers responsible for the survival of The Park Hill Community Bookstore is a long one. But one who certainly ranks near the top in terms of impact was John Eberhardt, who recently died at the age of 86. There were no services.
Past board members and managers of the store regarded Eberhardt as the patriarch of the operation. He served on the board reluctantly; he especially resisted being treasurer for a few terms. But he not only repaired the store’s finances from time to time (proposing such radical notions as tracking sales by book category, comparing revenue month-to-month and year-to-year, and creating a spreadsheet!) but he also insisted on long-term goals. This was all heady stuff for a bunch of aging quasi-Luddite hippies.
Perhaps the single most important task performed by Eberhardt was the maintenance of membership records. It took a good deal of time, considering that the bookstore has around 500 active members. Memberships are annual. So, Eberhardt had to painstakingly go through new memberships and renewals, and keep track of expiration dates, all via computer technology, which he mistrusted.
Eberhardt was a quiet man. No one contacted for this story could remember one instance when he raised the decibel level of a meeting. But that doesn’t mean he was reluctant to make his feelings known. His advice blended the dispassionate input of a consultant, with the homespun common sense of an uncle.
The bookstore was known for many years as the Park Hill Cooperative Bookstore, which is one reason Eberhardt got involved around 1980.
He was a co-founder of the University of Kansas student housing co-op in the later 30’s; during the tumultuous 60’s he was an active member of the Berkeley Co-op, and was on the board of the Denver Common Market downtown. That’s where he met Bettina Basanow, a member of the bookstore board and later manager, and she suggested he volunteer at the bookstore.
At the time, the operation was barely hanging on, with a good deal of debt. Thanks to recommendations from Eberhardt, Basanow and other new board members, the store tightened up its finances. And the duo launched a regular newsletter.
Interviewed recently about his time with the bookstore, Eberhardt recalled fondly the dedication, albeit sometimes naïve, of the volunteers and managers.
“We had a few minor financial scandals,” remembered. “There was a volunteer who we discovered was making frequent and long phone calls to England. And there was a manager who was dipping occasionally into the till. But all in all it was a unique institution and I’m glad I could help.”
Needless to say, Eberhardt was a passionate and voracious reader. His tastes were eclectic, but friends remember him leaning a bit toward nonfiction, especially the type which disapproved of conservative politics.