August Coppola, Brother of Francis, Creator of Tactile Dome, Dies at 75
Photo: San Francisco State University
August Coppola, who served as dean of the College of Creative Arts at San Francisco State and who created the famed Tactile Dome at the Exploratorium, died last week at his home in Los Angeles and the obit is just running today. The cause was a heart attack and August, brother to Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire and father to Nicholas Cage, was 75 years old.
He was an inspiring professor for whom a 150-seat theater is named at San Francisco State, and he was obsessed for a time with the idea and taboo of touch -- he even wrote a novel (now out of print) about a man who interacts with the world through touch.
He is also remembered for having pushed the City of SF to establish a High School of the Arts, which currently enrolls 1000 students.
Filed in News and tagged august coppola, francis ford coppola, obituaries, rip, the_exploratorium
Gah, the tactile dome was one of the nastiest experiences of my life. I went with my healthfood store co-workers as a team building experience. It was fine for about 5 minutes then the combination of BO, patchouli, old hash, and lack of oxygen began to overwhelm me.
I think the problem wasn't so much the smell of the tactile dome, but the smell of your co-workers. I mean... they worked at a health food store.
The Chron only mentioned this... today? EPIC FAIL. This was in NY Times last week.
Seemed like a decent fellow, but I wasn't a cinema major and never talked to him.