Michael Sterling Thomas

Michael Sterling Thomas I, artist, poet, philosopher, and father of seven died May 19, 2025 at the Berkeley Pines Skilled Nursing Center. He was 79 years old. In some circles, Michael was known as the Archangel Wizard Michael Thomas, a title he adopted during the 1960s when he opened BlackMan’s Art Gallery with his brother Juba in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury District. The gallery closed after a few years, but solidified Michael’s life-long commitment to making art.

A joyful and charismatic man, Michael was beloved by everyone who came to know him in the Bay Area and Mendocino County. While he lived in many parts of northern California, he lived the longest in Berkeley where on and off from the 1980s through the early 2000s you could find Michael on Telegraph Avenue selling his intricate wire woven jewelry. Often, he displayed large sculptures along with his smaller creations, which showed his ability to weave complex spiraling designs in brass, copper, and silver.

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 1, 1945, Michael is survived by his seven children: Isabella Clara Woodberry (55), Amber Flora Thomas (52), Michael Sterling Thomas II (50), Ruby Love Gonzales (47), Jade Hanna Thomas (44), Kintu Ra Thomas (36), and Lotus Yin Thomas (34), as well as a smattering of grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and extended family who loved him very much. His family will miss his infectious laughter and warmth most of all.

Much of Michael’s wisdom is contained in a chapbook of poetry he published in 1987, Spiral Motion. In poems his philosophical beliefs emerged most clearly: “we should all travel the straight and narrow path / but don’t forget to bend with the wind.” Here is an excerpt from his poem “spiral motion:”

manifest thyself from a circle of love

rotate around the axis of truth

evolve around the premise of wisdom

gravitate to the center of sublime cosmic harmony.”

Michael spent his life mulling over its mysteries. He read numerous religious texts in eastern and western traditions. He liked to say that he was a lover, not a fighter, but he fought hard to keep living at the end. The final years of Michael’s life were impacted by dementia, but his beautiful spirit and charisma had not dimmed. The family remembers him best in more youthful times, singing, meditating, always with a stretch of wire and a pair of pliers in his hands, probing the depths of his mind and soul for the riches of life.

Please join the family at the Universalist Unitarian Church in Kensington on Friday, June 27, 2025 at 3 PM for a Celebration of Life. The celebration will be livestreamed on Zoom. In leu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Dorothy Day House: Dorothy Day House.