Farewell Robert Steinberg

September 20, 2008


My friend Robert Steinberg died this week after a 20-year bout with lymphoma, and I am much too sad to write about anything else.  Robert, a physician whom I met briefly when he was a resident at UCSF, was already well into his illness when he gave up his medical practice to co-found Scharffen Berger chocolates with John Scharffenberger in the mid-1990s.  We got reacquainted around then at a Chefs Collaborative meeting in Walpole, New Hampshire, where he introduced me to Burdick’s chocolates and, over the years, to much else about high-quality chocolate (see the book that he and John wrote).   As a doctor, he had no illusions about the state of his health but there was no question that chocolate gave him reason to live.  I managed to see him on most of my trips to San Francisco, but this last time – the weekend of Slow Food Nation – he didn’t feel well enough.  He had been ill for so long, and complained about it so little, that I thought he would live forever.  No such luck.  Robert, farewell.  This world will miss you. 


4 Comments

  1. I’m very sorry for your loss. I hope you read David Lebovitz’ lovely tribute to your friend. (at www.davidlebovitz.com) He certainly touched many lives with his enthusiasm for chocolate.

    Comment by KarenR — September 20, 2008 @ 7:43 pm

  2. :(

    Comment by darya — September 20, 2008 @ 8:02 pm

  3. Rest in peace. Sending my condolences.

    Comment by Melissa Ayres — September 20, 2008 @ 10:28 pm

  4. Sympathy for your loss. Dr. Steinberg sounds like an extraordinary man who led an extraordinary life. One thing I’ve learned about chronic illness is that you can live with it, or die from it. Diagnosis makes us more acutely aware that we can spend our lives living, or we can spend them dying. Your friend spent his too-short time in this realm living, and making life sweeter for others.

    Comment by tmana — September 20, 2008 @ 11:31 pm

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