EDDIE BIRNBAUM

BIRNBAUM--Eddie. My friend, Eddie, died. I am beyond sad. We didn't know each other until we were both swept along by a cultural shift in early 1950s. Our parents found little ranch houses in Bayside in a mini-enclave of identical little ranch houses, all new houses ready at about the same time and we were strangers in a strange land, but that really bonded us. Rather quickly, we got to know each other. Eddie and Freddie lived on 219th Street in Bayside. We were thrown into this new world and were the same age (pre-Bar Mitzvah) and were part of an adventure. The fact that we had to change schools becomes less scary when you have a buddy and you stick together. We were 10-11-year-olds and were discovering more about ourselves, and life -- all at the same time -- which was good because we were able to hang out, and share things. We attended grade school then Junior High and Bayside High School. We traveled on the school bus together, came home on the school bus together, played stickball on the street, stayed in our own little community. We grew up and became more aware, more confident. Eddie grew taller. I guess I grew taller but wasn't aware of it because I was dumpy, an easy target for bullies, and Eddie protected me. We did not have bats and balls. We had pink rubber Spaldings (allowed after the War) and the wooden handle of a mop from one of our mothers. Our group of buddies grew in prestige when Eddie named them "The Savage Seven", thinking that it would intimidate potential bullies. It worked. Eddie was a hardy laugher, had a great disposition, and was always fun. Howie was a tough guy but also liked being one of the guys and we were like the Three Musketeers. Eddie and Freddie went to sleep-away summer camp together. Eddie had the uncanny ability to remember the names of all the good teachers, even up and through and into our last correspondence or phone messages, he would make reference to names from 1953 through 1957. Names I hadn't heard except through Eddie. I drifted away from that world, although Eddie and I went to Queens College together and were in the same fraternity together. We each went to different law schools but stayed friends. My friend Eddie oozed likeability and trustability. I did not realize it as a young kid but those qualities are rare elements, indeed, and very much the essence of Eddie. You left us too soon, old friend. It brought about feelings of incredulity, sadness, and then of Proustian memories of an entire lifetime where sadly there was a drifting, and then when we spoke or wrote it was as though we never drifted and were still high school kids, never contemplating there would be a time when one of us would depart before the other. I know the cliches about being travelers on the same road, but this was you, Eddie. And there but for the grace of days, hours, and months... go I, regretting that I never told you sufficiently of my admiration for you or having this kind of a schmooze for hours that we both would have liked to have had. We did have some lunches. I visited you at 40 Wall Street. But these were islands in the stream of life as we were all navigating our growing up and getting older and priorities changed. Myrna and I offer our condolences, our sympathy, our regrets for those you leave behind. I remember Amanda and Jordan growing up and your pride as well as your profound love of Madi. And if all the men and women I have met in the world could laugh with your gusto and project the integrity honesty and sense of decency that people felt in their gut when you were with them, the world would be a better place. You did that for me. I was so fortunate that we met at the beginning of the 1950s at 219th Street in Bayside and we shared the experiences we did and became whoever we became. You were always "my old friend, Eddie". Rest in peace, dear friend. Freddie remembers you teaching him how to hold a mop handle stick to play stickball and tactfully suggesting I not try to run to the bases, which were marked in chalk on the black asphalt of our street (so I became home plate). The tactful way you told that to me, careful not to be hurtful, was endearing. We had such good times. We were so lucky to be born when we were, growing up where we grew up, have parents who decided it was time to make the move to a new chapter of their lives which brought us together. May the Lord bless you and keep you forever and ever. Your friends The Gershons Myrna and Freddie