Robert was known as Rick in the old days. We sang together in a barbershop quartet for many high school events, so when he attended our 20th reunion, I asked him to stay with us. We were remodeling the kitchen at that time, so he stayed for a couple of weeks to help out. Rick mostly provided entertainment. He was a vocal and acting coach, so he would sing arias and recite Shakespeare.
He graduated from Berkeley with a BA in German and a minor in Architecture. That was followed by an MFA in dance from Ohio State. Quoting his father: “So you're going to design dance studios in Germany?”.
Motivated by a strong interest in Chinese culture, he taught himself to read ancient Chinese and began offering classes in feng shui and Chinese astrology. He was producing an English edition of the Chinese almanac, the Tong Shu, by writing it out by hand and then photocopying, with about a dozen customers. I thought this was a bit old school, so I extracted the information from him and wrote a program to generate the almanac. Eventually, this became a website, tongshu.com, whose subscribers helped support him for the last 20 years of his life
Rick will be missed by all of us who knew his cheerful demeanor, quick wit, and deep compassion. We are grateful to have had him in our lives.
I met Rick a few times after high school when I was at UC Santa Cruz around 1968. He was taking some classes and also had a part in a Shakespere Santa Cruz productioin. He loved acting and singing and was always a cheerful and entertaining person. Sorry to hear of his passing. Jeff Grant
Phil Imming
Robert was known as Rick in the old days. We sang together in a barbershop quartet for many high school events, so when he attended our 20th reunion, I asked him to stay with us. We were remodeling the kitchen at that time, so he stayed for a couple of weeks to help out. Rick mostly provided entertainment. He was a vocal and acting coach, so he would sing arias and recite Shakespeare.
He graduated from Berkeley with a BA in German and a minor in Architecture. That was followed by an MFA in dance from Ohio State. Quoting his father: “So you're going to design dance studios in Germany?”.
Motivated by a strong interest in Chinese culture, he taught himself to read ancient Chinese and began offering classes in feng shui and Chinese astrology. He was producing an English edition of the Chinese almanac, the Tong Shu, by writing it out by hand and then photocopying, with about a dozen customers. I thought this was a bit old school, so I extracted the information from him and wrote a program to generate the almanac. Eventually, this became a website, tongshu.com, whose subscribers helped support him for the last 20 years of his life
Rick will be missed by all of us who knew his cheerful demeanor, quick wit, and deep compassion. We are grateful to have had him in our lives.
Jeff Grant
I met Rick a few times after high school when I was at UC Santa Cruz around 1968. He was taking some classes and also had a part in a Shakespere Santa Cruz productioin. He loved acting and singing and was always a cheerful and entertaining person. Sorry to hear of his passing. Jeff Grant