Bokara Legendre, solo performer, socialite and Buddhist, dead at 77

Bokara Legendre, a solo performer, TV host and self-described “socialite-turned-social activist” died Dec. 3 in her Mill Valley home from an aggressive form of thyroid cancer. She was 77.

Legendre built a public persona out of her background as an heiress who was raised by servants in the South, made her way into the tippy top of San Francisco society then evolved into a spiritual seeker who was friendly with the Dalai Lama.

Her memoir, “Not What I Expected,” was published in July and in November, while terminally ill, she gave a reading at Book Passage in Corte Madera.