I'm glad to have found http://doctor-chef.blogspot.com and hope to be able to come to any memorial for Robert that may be organized in SF. Please let me know when the memorial will be, once the arrangements have been made. Thank you.
In the meantime, I've read quite a bit about Robert this past week, and learned a lot in particular about his life as a foodie, chocolatier, and most recently, as someone who was working with cacao bean farmers abroad to improve their product and economic well-being. What's clear to me is that many people will remember Robert's passion as a physician and as a chocolate maker.
But Red Sox Nation in the Bay Area really got to know him first and foremost as a kindred Bosox fan and member of our Bay Area Sox Meetup Group (http://redsox.meetup.com/117/). We enjoyed many get togethers with him to cheer on our team. When I learned of his history in medicine and chocolate, I started calling him Dr. Chocolate at our Sox meetups and the nickname stuck.
Although he had moved from Boston a long time ago, he clearly never lost his fanaticism for Boston sports. When he was visiting a friend in Paris last year, the Sox were playing in the World Series and he watched the game live (3 am local time) on a laptop. When the Sox won the game he called our group watching in SF just to be able to share his excitement.
When we gathered at Jillians to watch the Sox-Yankees series this past July, Robert showed up, even though he had not responded to the event posting saying he was coming. He joked that he liked coming to our Sox meetups to catch up on the "soap opera" of sports. At this gathering, in addition to bantering about the Sox and Yankees players' baseball records, we got Robert involved in a heated debate about whether or not Alex Rodriguez and Madonna had in fact slept together.
I know Robert lived a long time with his illness, and despite ups and downs he seemed to approach most days with a zest for life, always looking forward to his next great adventure. I'll always remember him as he was during our trip to LA last year when we watched the Sox sweep the Angels during the division playoffs. He bounced around with boyish glee and a huge happy grin on his face.
RIP Dr. Chocolate.
Joyce Q.
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