RIP Eddie Goldberg

Eddie Goldberg was a feisty 99 year old who lived on Gregory's floor and shared a meal table. Eddie was quite alert and aware although through a very narrow range of interaction

"What about me?" he would ask every time someone walked past with a plate of food. "I'm Eddie Goldberg, nice to meet you," he would declare to you. When asked how he was doing his answer was always, "Fine thank you very much."

One day when Eddie was feeling kind of grumpy and down, I reached over and held his hand. He held it back with love, affection, and meaning and his grumpiness disappeared. We held hands throughout the entire meal.

Eddie began to fail quickly after a possible stroke. He spent a week in the hospital, returned to Lieberman, and seemed to recover a little. He lost his feistiness and seemed a little more distant than before.

Yet he continued to respond to "How are you Eddie?"

"I am fine, thank you very much."

Eddie passed away early this morning. He will be missed. Fitting that he left us on Passover, not because of the "Slaying of the first born" for which the holiday is known as the Jewish people escaped from slavery in Egypt but more for the "Rebirth and Passage from Slavery to Freedom!" RIP Eddie Goldberg. And thank YOU very much!

This is the picture that hung. for identification purposes,

in the frame outside Eddie's Room.