Matthew Steven Adler

1986 - 2018

Matthew Steven Adler, born on June 30, 1986, passed away on July 22, 2018 in San Diego, California. His loving parents, Marshall and Debra Adler, felt blessed to have such a kind, compassionate and loving son. Matt's warmth and gentleness were apparent early in his life, as evidenced by the fact that in grade school he was called "the comforter" since he was constantly consoling his classmates to help them with their troubles. Due to his unique ability to provide this help, he was awarded the American Legion award for citizenship when he was only 13 years old. Matt's love of movies was the driving force of his life as he grew older. In order to further his dream of being a Hollywood film director, Matt attended film school in both Florida and California. Matt's knowledge of film history was legendary since he was a walking Wikipedia of movie knowledge. Although Matt's life was tragically cut short, he was on the journey to become a Hollywood director and actually met legendary directors like Oliver Stone. The only thing Matt loved more than movies was his family. Matt was a fantastic older brother to his younger brother, David, throughout his life. He was not only David's teacher in the fine art of movie appreciation, he was David's biggest fan. Matt's love for his parents, Marshall and Debra, was evident by the hours he would spend educating them on the latest upcoming movie production or rising Hollywood director. Matt had an incredibly wonderful relationship with his many cousins on both sides of his family tree. Throughout his life, he continued to comfort family members in their time of need. Matt is survived by his loving parents, Marshall and Debra, his loving brother, David, his loving uncles and aunts Jeffrey (Fran), Wendy, Tammy, Kelly (Kevin), his loving grandmother Linda and loving cousins Jonathan (Carol), Jerrod (Kristi), Amanda, Russell, Tara (Allen), Brandy, Drue, Gregory (Jen). Matt was preceded in death by his loving grandparents, Merwin Adler, Florence Adler, and Jeff Thomas. Matt was called "Mahatma"at a young age, like Mahatma Gandi, because of his great soul. He might have lost the battle with longevity with his tragic death but he won the war of living a life full of love, compassion, and caring. Matt led the life epitomized by Walt Whitman's call for men to be made of steel and velvet. He was strong like steel to fight the good fight every day of his life and had an enormous amount of velvet to be the kindest, most compassionate and caring person on the planet. Although he will be forever truly missed by those fortunate enough to know him, he will continue to live on in all of us as stated by Jack Kerouac when he said, "I hope it is true that a man can die and yet not only live in others but give them life, and not only life, but that great consciousness of life." Truer words were never spoken of the extraordinary life of Matthew Steven Adler.