SAN FRANCISCO – Jack Balestreri was 17 when he got a job helping build the Golden Gate Bridge. He had hoped to make it to the span’s 75th anniversary next month.
But Balestreri — believed to be the last surviving bridge worker — died of natural causes at his San Francisco home on April 21, his daughter, Gayle Balestreri, told The Associated Press on Friday. He was 95.
Starting in 1933, Balestreri did concrete work on the south tower of the bridge and the San Francisco anchorage for three years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Gayle Balestreri said her father would take the family to Fort Point on the San Francisco side of the bridge and tell them about the span and the work he had done.
“He was always very proud of that,” she said.
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