Nadia Reisenberg – Clara Rockmore Foundation – website newsletter July 2023
Dear friends –
It is with profound sadness that we now navigate this world without Robert “Bob” Sherman, my father, Nadia’s son and Clara’s nephew, and the Founder and President of the Nadia Reisenberg – Clara Rockmore Foundation.
Dad died peacefully in his sleep in the very early hours of Tuesday June 27, 2023, a few days after his fourth stroke in the last two years. He died with dignity and grace, surrounded by his family and by love. He had a brilliant life and lived it well – yet alas, it was his time to go.
Dad’s last months were spent delightedly listening and watching as his retirement was celebrated across the airwaves of WQXR and WFUV, and across their respective “.org” websites, and picked up and featured on numerous websites across the music world spectrum. He was deeply grateful and humbled by all the fuss being made over him, at one point quipping with a wry smile, “Wow, must have been someone important…”.
Dad’s pioneering influence and positive impacts on the music and broadcasting worlds have been profound. For years, he’s been praised and revered by so many, from the most famous musicians of our time to the faceless armies of listeners, fans and music lovers, and yet somehow, Dad always remained humble – he certainly has an ego, but it was always pointed outward, there for everyone else…
In fact, one of the most amazing things about hearing from hundreds and literally hundreds of people around the world who are writing to share their stories and memories of Dad, is the number of them that reference Dad’s myriad random acts of kindness, and remember how he treated all people equally, regardless of fame or station in life….
This is how Dad walked through life… and certainly this was how Nadia and Clara walked through their lives as well – powerful, compassionate, beautiful, intelligent, humane, and honest women who led by example….
It’s no wonder Dad emulated these endearing qualities, and no wonder they all left incredible legacies for us to behold, and solid shoulders for the next generations to stand upon, and continue to expand and soar.
Together let’s remember Dad, and Clara and Nadia, and let us be inspired by them to live our lives just a little bit better, and take just a few more chances…. We will carry on their incredible legacies with the same gentle empathy, grace, decency, kindness, compassion, fairness, inclusion, community spirit, style, excellence, urgency, warmth, respect, genuine love, and yes, talent, that they brought to everything they did, and shared with everyone they met….
With gratitude and love, and in peace, Steve
Steve J. Sherman
Incoming President of the Nadia Reisenberg – Clara Rockmore Foundation
Here is the obituary that ran in the NY Times Monday July 3
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/arts/music/robert-sherman-dead.html