Sid was my uncle, my mother’s “baby brother,” as she proudly and jokingly referred to him. I don’t know another human being who seized and lived life as fully to the end as Sid did. At the age of 87 to be working on an extensive writing project that involved a great deal of interviewing and researching–I find that absolutely remarkable.
Besides his gentle spirit and incredible empathy, what I most remember about Sid was his fantastic sense of humor. He used to tell hilarious anecdotes about his work as a doctor that had us in stitches when our two families got together. One story involved trying to pronounce a patient dead who was inert on the floor. Sid had just had a recurrence of the back problems that plagued him throughout much of his adult life and was wearing a brace. His description of trying to lower himself to the floor while the family was standing around sobbing was truly priceless. I’m not doing justice to the story and can only hope you can imagine how he told it. I will miss him greatly.