The friends that I made when I was young are slowly dying.  We are no longer at the stage where people will say, “he died so young.” Even though I understand that death is what follows life, it remains a bit uncomprehensible 

It was 1966 when Geoff and I first met. He was a bit younger than me, so we were 21.  Returning from Europe, where I had been living for the last year, I signed on to be a tutor in a new program at The College of San Mateo (San Francisco peninsula) called the College Readiness Program.  It was started by a fantastic woman, Jean Wirth.   Our mission was to tutor predominantly African American kids living in East Palo Alto who had been admitted to schools such as the University of California at Berkeley.  You can read about this fantastic program here. Also, here.

Geoff was also a tutor. He was attending the University of California Berkeley, ) and was living that summer with his mother, her husband (Geoff’s father had died when he was a young child), two brothers, and a sister.  They lived in the wealthy town of Woodside.  The famous childhood actress Shirley Temple lived next door, and I would sometimes see her when I visited with Goeff.  

After the summer, Geoff moved back to Berkeley.  His girlfriend, Stephanie, was 18, studying art.  I moved to San Francisco and began my career in medical science at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco.  I often spent my weekends with Geoff and Steph at their place in Berkeley. It was the time of the hippies, the summer of love.  We were not hippies, although I had played a role in the early stages of that movement in 1964-65.  We did smoke a lot of dope.  I remember Geoff and Steph’s wedding which took place on a small lake adjacent to his mother’s home in Sonoma. Many years later, moved to Sonoma myself. The last time I visited that home, was in 2015.

The Anti-War Movement (Vietnam War) played a big role in our lives.  I had been given a 4-F status because of health issues, but Geoff was called. Rather than serve in a war he did not support, he and Steph fled the country and ended up in Paris.  We reconnected in 1969 when I stopped to see him on my way to my new position at the Medical School, Erasmus University Rotterdam.   There, I married Arianne, and soon after, Adin was born.

Eventually, Geoff and Steph moved to Canada, where they had their daughter, Phoebe, and a son, Jason.  Arianne and our three children lived in Israel but moved to Boston in 1979.  I visited them in Canada, and once, Steph and her kids came to see us in Boston.  

His daughter, Phoebe, moved to Sonoma, where Geoff’s mom had moved. I connected with the family and saw Geoff occasionally, but we had moved apart.  Our circumstances had become very different.  I moved to Sonoma with Deborah (my second wife) many years later. Eventually, Phoebe went to work for us as our assistant.  But I always felt she was family.  Geoff and Steph eventually broke up, but I also connected with her.  She would visit Sonoma from time to time. Her family lived there as well. She lived in Canada, where she still lives.

Geoff moved to Hawaii.  He was not in good health, suffering from COPD and having to use oxygen.    We continued to communicate infrequently.  In his last message, a year ago, he referred to the political issues of the 60s and how it seemed we were back there again.

Rest in peace, my dear friend. You will be missed by many.