A memorial service will be held Sunday for David Gancher, a writer who died Friday at his Oakland home. He was 53 and had suffered a long illness.

Mr. Gancher was founder of ComputerLand magazine and editor of the book "Not Man Apart," one of the most important volumes on environmentalism published in the 1970s.

He was born in Georgia but moved to Oakland with his family when he was a child. A graduate of Oakland High School, Mr. Gancher studied at Reed College in Oregon before receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's from San Francisco State University.

From 1965 to 1967, he worked in the Peace Corps and taught English at a college in Turkey. He then returned to the Bay Area and contributed to the Stolen Paper Review and Rolling Stone. He also knitted sweaters for rock musicians.

In 1973, he joined Friends of the Earth, where he edited "Not Man Apart." He later edited two related books, "Eco-Warriors" and "Green Means." He went to the Sierra Club in 1978, becoming senior editor of Sierra magazine.

Mr. Gancher was hired by ComputerLand in 1984 to help develop its magazine, and he continued as its editor-in-chief until 1993.

He also wrote poetry and song lyrics, reviewed books for The Chronicstra.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Lynn Moulton, and daughters Sarah and Elizabeth.

A memorial will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Alumni House on the UC Berkeley campus.

Memorial contributions are requested for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, 180 Montgomery Street, Suite 1400, San Francisco 94104.