Keith Vincent Silva

1947 - 2022

Longtime Fairfax resident, Keith Vincent Silva, passed away at his home on Sequoia Road on Saturday, December 10, 2022 after a short, but arduous battle with urothelial carcinoma. Keith was born in San Francisco on October 9, 1947. His family lived for a short while in Larkspur, CA before moving to Monterey, CA, where Keith spent most of his school years until leaving for the University of California, Berkeley where he received a teaching degree. Upon graduating he joined the Teacher Corps, met up with fellow Teacher Corps trainees in the Salinas Valley and finally was assigned with a core group of them to Malaysia. So began Keith's life and love of adventure and friend making. The Teacher Corps group still gets together today, in fact they just celebrated their 50th reunion, and Keith was among them, jubilant and buoyant as ever. Following the Teacher Corps experience, Keith decided he didn't want to be a teacher, so he sojourned to London after a brief caravan tour of Europe. In London he met Leslie Dektor, a photographer who was looking for an assistant. Keith became that assistant, living in London for 4 years. He learned the photography trade, and when he returned to San Francisco he opened his own commercial photography business on Clementina Alley, south of Market Street. For the next 35 years, he photographed models and products, food and people, making friends of advertising clients, fellow artists, and indeed, everyone he met. Keith loved his work. When the film world turned digital, Keith decided to retire. He did learn digital photography, but instead of using it commercially, he made art at his home studio. His creativity was boundless, exuberant, colorful and surprising. Keith traveled extensively throughout his life, visiting Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bali, Cuba, the Bahamas, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, and Poland. Still on his bucket list were Papua New Guinea and Mongolia. Keith loved riding his mountain bike in the hills of Fairfax, which he had been doing since the 1980s. He loved walking his dog in the hills above town or in the watershed area; he loved talking to everyone he met and learning their story. He never met a stranger whose life didn't fascinate him. He was a true adventurer, lover of life, an artist, a beautiful man. In 1998, Keith met the love of his life, Deborah Urban, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was a volunteer and she was a staff member and they met in a meeting. They spent 24 years together, marrying last year. Keith was the most happily married man. Keith was preceded in death by his father Carlo and his brother Mark. Keith is survived by his wife, Deb Urban; his mother, Barbara Silva; his siblings, Grace Silva Santella, Vincent Silva, Stephen Silva, and David Silva; sisters-in-law Linda Spangler and Debbie Silva and brother-in-law Ray Santella; as well as by his non-sibling brothers Eric Watterud, Adrian Gordon, Thomas Luehrsen and David Campbell. May he rest forever in peace and love. A celebration of his life will be held in the Spring. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Equal Justice Initiative, 122 Commerce St., Montgomery, Alabama 36104 or online at eji.org.