Monday, March 16, 2009

A Sad Day: Richie Shulberg R.I.P.

Tomorrow will be a sad one too. Just heard another Stuyvesant alum passed away this weekend. I knew Richie at Brooklyn College as well. Many knew him as Citizen Kafka. A great guy....brilliant and funny and caring. Here he is playing with his grop last May

from the Stuyvsant listserve, thanks to Rich for forwarding
Dear all,
I just heard from my brother Rob that our classmate, Richie Shulberg, has died. I don't have any details, beyond knowing that he was ill with Multiple Sclerosis among
other ailments for many years, and has never been in the best of health. I got to know Richie outside of school having spent several successive summers with him (and Jules Rothstein)at the same summer camp . We discovered Bluegrass music together, and played
in what was for all of us our first band - Shulberg on fiddle, me on guitar, and Richie Scher on banjo (the latter although not a Stuy guy, some of you Canarsie guys might remember). Richie was an accomplished violinist, and played in the Stuy orchestra. At camp, he used to crack me up by playing Bach's Partita in D, and deliberately murdering the piece by playing wrong notes in strategic places. He was one of the funniest guys I ever knew, crazy as a bedbug, but also gentle, caring and
compassionate. A genuine mensch... I know I will surely miss him. Sorry to be the bearer of such sad tidings...gene

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