Ester Chichinsky,
Bill Graham’s Sister, Dies

Ester Chichinsky, sister and last surviving sibling of the late Bill Graham, died Nov. 26 in Arizona at 86, according to the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation.

The last of Bill’s generation, Chichinsky was a familiar presence at many Bill Graham Presents events.

During the 1978 final run of the Grateful Dead at San Francisco’s fabled Winterland, she could be found all week running a “soup kitchen,” feeding the Deadheads camping out there.

Chichinsky was one of only two of Graham’s five sisters to survive the Holocaust and escape Hitler and an overrun Europe, eventually reuniting with Graham in the U.S.

Ester and Bill remained close until his 1991 death.

She is survived by her son, Steve, and husband Manny.