C. Keith Birkenfeld, age 66, died Sept. 7 at the Island Health and Rehabilitation Center on Bainbridge Island.

His death followed ongoing complications from open-heart surgery performed 25 years ago, which forced his retirement from the Bellevue School District where he spent 20 years as a high school teacher of international relations and U.S. history and later served as an administrator.

He was born Oct. 20, 1939, to Calvin B. and Isabelle (Keith) Birkenfeld.

He was reared in Bremerton as a part of the only documented eight-generation family, the McPhersons, who arrived in Seattle in 1888. Keith was the sixth generation.

His aunt, Margaret McPherson, was Kitsap County Auditor for many years. A McPherson daughter married into the Keith family, after whom he was named.

He was a 1956 Bremerton High School graduate. He earned a degree in education from Washington State University in 1960 and while there headed the biggest Young Republican club in the nation.

He was a 1963 graduate of the University of Washington. He attended Seattle University and earned a degree there in 1975, and did additional graduate work at the University of Hawaii.

He spent the last 25 years living on Bainbridge Island in a condominium overlooking the ferry dock and shipyard. He was seldom home because he took seriously his doctor’s advice to take sea voyages to restore his health, and along the way he met and became friends with many celebrities from the children of the Shah of Iran to Sonny Bono, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Ginger Rogers and many more.

A lifelong Republican, when he was a teenager working for the party, he so impressed President Eisenhower that he invited Birkenfeld to visit Palm Springs after he left the presidency.

Palm Springs so impressed Birkenfeld that he spent every winter there for many years, participating and hosting many celebrity events. He also taught a class in international relations which was attended by many of the other snowbirds who came there.

He was a lifelong beneficiary of serendipity. Once asked to escort a woman cruise companion to a formal affair, he accepted and found himself arm in arm with a Russian princess, the Princess Paula Melikoff, who remained his friend through the years.

He was invited by Lord and Lady Robin Hankey to go to London to see the Queen open the new session of Parliament. The Hankeys joined his circle of permanent friends.

On a cruise, he struck up a friendship with a Norwegian couple that liked him so much they included him in their parties. He found later they owned the shipping line.

While vacationing in New Zealand, he visited a horse-racing farm and while volunteering his assistance, he was asked to lead some horses from one place to another. When car drivers on the adjacent road stopped to gawk, he learned that the big chestnut-colored horse slobbering on his shoulder and kissing his ear was the legendary Van Der Hum, who had just won the Melbourne cup, their equivalent of the Kentucky Derby.

As an educator, he was first to stage political conventions with high school classes like those held by the parties. He was the recipient of the 1991 Washington State University Alumni Achievement Award “for outstanding leadership, participation and service to his profession and community,” bringing distinction to his Alma Mater.

As a world traveler, he made 405 commercial flights, 22 ship trips to more than 50 countries and six continents. As a philanthropist, he gave to countless groups, from the Salvation Army to the Bloedel Reserve.

He was state vice president and trustee of the 4-H Foundation, of which he was a member from 1974. He was founding board member of the Bellevue Art Museum, and a member of the state board of Keep Washington Green for 15 years.

He was a lifetime member of the Seattle Foundation, Seattle Opera Association, Kitsap County Historical Society, University of Washington’s President’s Club, Pioneer Association of Washington State, Seattle Symphony Musical Legacy Society, Pioneer Association of Birkenfeld, Oregon, Friends of Hearst Castle, KCTS TV-9 Legacy Society, WSU Foundation Century Two Club and Maryhill Museum of Art.

Birkenfeld is survived by a sister, Sylvia of Rhode Island and a brother, Harry of Silverdale.

A celebration of his life and a musical concert will be held at 1 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Bainbridge Commons in Waterfront Park.

In lieu of flower, gifts may be made to the Swedish Heart Institute at Swedish Medical Center Foundation, 747 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122-4307.