O. K. GRAU 

A member of the San Francisco bar since 1908, with a successful practice and a number of commercial interests, O. K. Grau is perhaps best known in the Bay District for his active interest in musical affairs. He has been a patron of music, and is a founder of the San Francisco Opera Association. 

He was born at Buffalo, New York. His father, the late Herman H. Grau, who died in 1915, acquired a fortune in the East, and, coming to California in the ‘90s, established a home at Sacramento and retired for twenty years before his death. His wife was J. F. Bertha Ziegele, a native of New York State, who died three months after her husband. 

O. K. Grau was a boy when his parents came to California. He attended public and private schools in Buffalo and in this state, and graduated in 1906 from the law department of Stanford University. At Stanford University he was prominent in all college activities and was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, Quadrangle Club, Skull and Snakes and other honor societies. In 1908 he engaged in law practice at San Francisco, and since that time has been associated with Judge George E. Crothers and F. V. Keesling, with offices in the Chronicle Building. Mr. Grau has handled a great deal of important work, particularly in cases involving lien, corporation and probate law. Along with his law business, he looks after some financial enterprises of his own and is interested in a number of companies. 

Mr. Grau has been a devotee of music since childhood. He likewise acknowledges a keen interest in all athletic sports, politics and public affairs and for ten years he served as prosecuting attorney for one of the mountain counties at the same time maintaining his law offices in San Francisco. He is a republican, is serving on the hospitality committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and during the World war he was vice-chairman of the music and entertainment committee of the Red Cross and also very active in all Liberty Loan drives. He was given service in the National Guard of California, Community Chest endowment fund drives and has been acting officer of the Western Division for the Sigma Nu fraternity during the last ten years. He is a member of the American Bar Association, California Bar Association and San Francisco Bar Association, the Presidio Golf Club and other Clubs. 

Mr. Grau married at San Francisco, June 6, 1912, Miss Antoinette Keyston. She is a native daughter of San Francisco, and her father was William Donald Keyston, a well-known wholesale merchant of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Grau have twin daughters, Antoinette and Suzanne, who are now being education in private schools. 

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker 

Source: "The San Francisco Bay Region," by Bailey Millard, Vol. 3, page 398-399, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1924.