Ernie Sailer, 1917-2012
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My father has died at age 95.
Here are a few pictures.
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| L.A. County Art Museum, 1984 |
This was taken during the 1984 Summer Olympics, when my father was 67. A general theme in these photos is that he usually looks about a decade or more younger than he really was, which reflects his robust health.
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| Cabo San Lucas, 1985 |
Two striped marlins, mine 110 pounds (took about 45 minutes to reel in), my father’s 155 (took 75 minutes). We thought we were hot stuff until the next boat brought in a 506 pound blue marlin.
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| Honda 90, about 1967 |
I hadn’t previously noted my Dad’s resemblance to a French comedian. The child actor looks like a drip, though.
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| Hiking in Topanga Canyon, late 1990s |
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| Atop Lembert Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite, October 1986 |
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| Atop Sugarloaf, Rio de Janeiro, May 1978 |
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| About 1965 |
(Republished from iSteve by permission of author or representative)
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My condolences.
My condolences, sir.
Sorry for your loss Steve. My condolences.
Condolences, Steve.
Thanks for posting this. Sharing a few reminiscences of a good man with your readers.
Condolences.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis, dona nobis pacem.
My condolences, Steve. Sorry for your loss.
My condolences, Steve.
My condolences Steve.
Somebody said it better than I would have on the other thread:
Shame about your dad but I guess it was his time. Take comfort in knowing he lived through probably the most pleasant times in human history.
I'll add that 95 is a hell of a run. My dad only made it a couple years past half that. My grandad almost got that far, though.
Those of us who grew up in intact families with good relationships with our fathers should count our blessings. Seems like every other guy I bump into hates his old man, didn't really know him, etc. Mine was my best friend, and from what I can gather you and yours were very close.
What a great childhood you had! And what a full life your father seems to have led! The photo on the moped was priceless. He looked so content and confident.
Great pictures! What a childhood you had! And the photo of your father driving the moped was very evocative. He is smiling and looking up and into the distance. So content and confident. Everything is right with the world. What a great life he must have led!
God rest his soul, Steve.
May he rest in peace.He seemed to have lived a long ,productive,and happy life in no small part due to you.
My condolences.
A life well lived. Condolences, Steve.
Very sorry for your loss, Steve. May he rest in peace.
It looks like you guys had a lot of great times together. You've often mentioned the insanely stressful job he had. You'd never know it looking at these joyful pictures.
Sorry for your loss. He was a quite an accomplished gentleman and lived a good, long life. Has the world ever changed as much as did during his lifetime? The things he saw. You are all in my thoughts.
Condolences, sir. You were proud of him, and I hope he was equally proud of you.
You were lucky to have each other. A wonderful family. Wonderful life. I grieve for you.
My condolences. Very sorry to hear this news. Thank you for giving us a portrait of him in your posts over the years. A life well lived.
May he rest in peace, and may perpetual light shine upon him.
Laban
Terribly sorry for your loss. Your father was obviously a great dad; the pictures, and your occasional references to him, demonstrate that. I am sure that he was proud of you and the way you have raised your son.
My condolences, Steve.
Steve – do you have any pictures of him during WWII or Korea [or even Vietnam]?
Or is it all still classified?
Thanks.
PS: Bonus points if there are any fighters or bombers [or, God forbid, either The Dragon Lady or The Blackbird itself] in the background.
Thanks again.
I'm very sorry for your loss, Steve.
A commenter on another thread said:
"Take comfort in knowing he lived through probably the most pleasant times in human history."
Yup. His family moved to California in 1929. He worked hard to have a good life, but it was definitely a good life.
He was skiing 70 years ago, before there were ski lifts — put your skis on your shoulder and hike up. He was there when somebody lugged a Model T engine to the top of June Mountain and hooked a rope tow to it.
In the 1930s in Malibu, he'd swim out past the breakers to the kelp beds, dive down to the ocean floor with a knife in his teeth, and pry Giant Abalone off the bottom, then roast them in a bonfire on the beach.
My condolences.
He's smiling in every picture.
I'm very sorry for your loss, Steve. I'm sure he is very proud of his son. Great pictures as well.
My condolences for you and your family's loss.
Your post movingly typified, through family photos, the end to a carefree era and the beginning of a brave new world.
He seemed like a very happy man (judging from the photographs), which in this day and age can be quite the feat.
Zachary
I'm so sorry to hear that. Thank you for posting the lovely photos.
– A Solid Citizen
Please accept my condolences.
Wow, what a wonderful long life. Great that you had so many years to know and enjoy him.
Condolences, Steve. From your references to him over the years I always got the impression that he was a good man.
Steve,
I am sorry for the loss of your father. My thoughts are with you today.
Looks like he lived a full and happy life. My regards.
Condolences. Lost my daddy (88) a few months ago. Hugs from Italy
My condolences. He seems like a good father who loved you very much.
From this, and what youve written about him previously, your father like a wonderful American, one of the millions of unsung who helped build the greatest, more powerful nation-state on earth.
Sorry for your loss.
Having never met him, I can sense what a great father he was. Sorry, Steve!
A life well lived.
I'm sorry for your loss.
My condolences to you and your family.
My condolences at your loss, Steve.
Condolences
My condolences, too. I lost my father two years ago and I still find it hard to realize he's gone. I appreciate your fine photos and great memories. Thank you for sharing them.
deepest sympathies.
Frank C
"Take comfort in knowing he lived through probably the most pleasant times in human history."
What I find really sad is that America's political and economic leaders are working tirelessly to undermine the foundations of our good fortune. Comparing the situation 50 years ago with the situation now, I'd say that their efforts have been most successful in California.
Condolences. A life well-lived is a thing of beauty
My condolences and fascination by your father.
Your F.r.
did you inherit any money or property?
Thanks for posting.
The marlin photo brought back fond memories of my dad and me fishing at the Deerfield Beach pier. No marlins were caught there, but a sailfish occasionally was.
Based on the photos, I can only hope that I'll be as good a dad to my son as yours was to you.
Sorry for your loss!
Sincere Condolences, Mr Sailer
Eternal rest grant, o Lord.
My sincerest condolences. We need more men like him (and you).
So sorry about your dad, Steve. From everything you've written about him, he sounded like a great guy!
(And being the man who invented the red wine-applesauce slurpee he's a-okay in my book!)
Condolences for your loss. Take comfort in his having seen the best of America.
Sorry to hear about your father. I lost mine last year, and I know what it is like.
I'm so sorry about your loss, Steve.
Sure remember those Hondas…I bought a new 125 that same year. I wish I still had it!
Sounds like you had a good experience. When mine died (at a similar age) it was like the final chord of a beautiful piece of music.
I'm sorry for your loss Steve.
I always enjoy reading about your dad (mixing wine and apple sauce, genius) and I trust your stockpile of cool Ernie Sailer stories is far from exhausted.
95, compos mentis, fit & with you as a son.
I don't think anybody could have asked for much more.
My sympathies, Steve. It should be a consolation that your father had a son of whom he could be proud.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Thank you for sharing your stories and photos of him with us over the years. They showed a man who was fully alive and lived a full life. These last pictures are real treasures.
How lucky you were to have had him as your dad.
I'm sorry for your loss.
I love these pictures and I thank you for sharing them with us. I think of the kids not lucky enough to have had such a father and I think I know you well enough through your writing to know you think of that often too.
I am very sorry for your loss, Steve, yet happy for you and the rest of your family that you had such a dad and had him for so long.
Be well.
Amazing Grace.
Robert Hume
Very sorry to hear it, my condolences. It sounds like he had a long, good life.
You and your father were both very, lucky to have each other. I am so, so sorry for your loss.
Condolences, steve.
Praying for you and your family.
Sorry for your loss Mr. Sailer.
I'm sorry for your loss, Steve. Thank you for sharing some lovely father and son photos.
Condolences, especially since he sounds like he was a really great father and a really great guy.
–bbtp
My condolences.
My sympathies. Beautiful post.
I'm so sorry! What wonderful pictures to remember him by.
May God bless your father in heaven, your family and you.
Tender sympathies tendered, Mr. Sailer. Grieve well and, when time brings ripeness, carry on.
My condolences Steve. Those are wonderful pictures. Clear evidence of a life well lived.
Hiking in Topanga Canyon… or somewhere else. The breeze on the leaves speaks softly about his family down there, and he smiles.
Rest in peace.
He led an enviable life and lives on through his invaluable son.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Steve … I am sorry for your loss. Losing our fathers is a painful rite of passage, one that makes us seem both old and childlike at the same time.
Your dad appeared to be an amazing guy, full of life. I know you will miss him.
Steve,
I am sorry for your loss. You and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers.
My condolences, Steve.
so sorry, Steve, from a long time lurker.
We'll miss him, too– you've quoted him enough!
looks like he lived a great life.
"He was skiing 70 years ago, before there were ski lifts — put your skis on your shoulder and hike up. He was there when somebody lugged a Model T engine to the top of June Mountain and hooked a rope tow to it.
In the 1930s in Malibu, he'd swim out past the breakers to the kelp beds, dive down to the ocean floor with a knife in his teeth, and pry Giant Abalone off the bottom, then roast them in a bonfire"
Ok enough already – now I'm just insanely jealous.
Life well lived- condolences.
Dan in Dc
Sorry for your loss, Steve. He seems to have been quite a man.
Sincere and heartfelt condolences to you and your family.
The stories you have written over the years about your Dad are wonderful (as are these pictures); I will pray for the repose of his soul. As others have said, it was obvious he led a long and good life and the world is a better place with him having brought you into it.
My condolences and prayers.
Requiescat in pace…
Poignant pics especially the last of you sawing and he watching. Can almost smell the sawn wood and feel the breeze and stillness thru the trees and the innocence of the times.
Your father lived a full life it appears and loved and was loved, may the same be said for all of us.
May you and yours be comforted in your time of sorrow.
A wonderful spirit. Shines through in the pictures you've posted.
My condolences as well Steve. Thanks for sharing the pictures and offering us a window into your childhood and upbringing. I bet your dad was a great man.
May his memory be eternal.
He seems like a cool guy.
RIP.
I'm sorry for your loss.
It looks like he had a good, long life. May he sleep in the arms of the Lord.
My sincere condolences.
Cheers to you and your dad. May you live as long as he.
I love the photo on the Honda CT90. Somebody should start building those again, they were great little machines.
Cabo San Lucas, 1985
Somebody just went to see William L. Petersen as Richard Chance [had to have been – because Manhunter wouldn't be released until 1986].
You are so totally busted.
So. Totally. Busted.
I'll bet you can even whistle the soundtrack from memory.
LOL'ed.
I sorrow to hear of his passing. My condolences and best wishes to you and your whole family, Steve.
I'm so sorry Steve. Your Dad looks like an awesome guy.
Condolences.
Sorry to hear it, condolences. Glad to know he had such a long and good life, though.
I am sorry for your loss. I am sure his is greatly missed by those who he now leaves behind.
My condolences.
Syon
Compare the scooter photo from this images from Jacques Tati's 1958 film "Mon Oncle": http://www.ecrans.fr/local/cache-vignettes/L450xH381/arton6891-33221.jpg
I'm sorry for your loss.
Sorry to hear of your loss.
I remember you telling us how your father drove away an eagle (or falcon ?)that you were worried would attach your pet rabbit from your back yard.
Your dad figured out that you could do this by shining a mirror in it's eyes.
all the best,
Horace
RIP. He played a fine innings.
Condolences, Steve,
My condolences.
Sorry for your loss, Steve.
Your father raised a man who has inspired and educated large numbes of people all over the world with his (your) clarity, insight, and courage – and that is part of the positive legacy of your father's time on Earth.
I'm so sorry for your loss, Steve. You have my deepest condolences.
Please accept my condolences.
May he rest in peace, Steve.
"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." Exodus 20:12
I'm so sorry for your loss. It sounds like he had a wonderful life and clearly served as a great inspiration to you.
My condolensces on your loss.
Thanks for sharing the photos.
I remember there were others from Chicago?
My condolences. My own father was born in 1915 and lived until nearly 90. He worked two jobs to support his family.
David In TN
RIP. What a great Father/Guy! Was he raised to be such by your Grandparents or did your Father get there all on his own gumption? Whichever, he pretty much had the best life has to offer for a fine long run!
Certainly his memory will be cherished by your family & his friends. Thank you for sharing a few of yours.
I wonder what sort of America I'll see if I live to his age. I'm 20 now.
You have my condolences. It's good to see that he had a good 92 years, and a good son.
Sounds like quite a great Man and Father. My condolences to you and your family.
My deepest condolences and my prayers for you and your family. God bless you and yours.
Just by the photos it is easy to tell your father was a manly man and quite a guy. His posture, facial expressions and positive attitude. My condolences. My dad hit the wall at 94.
Your father looked like a robust man who really enjoyed life. Those photos make me sad not only for your loss, but also because it reminds me that my own dad is a workaholic who forgot how to enjoy life the same way once he reached late mid-life.
My condolences.
I hope you don't mind a perfect stranger offering you condolences, Steve, but I would like to do so. It sounds like your father was a terrific guy and will be much missed. A great American of the old school.
My condolences.
My condolences, Steve.
I appreciate the pictures.
We should all be twice lucky enough to have a life like his and a father like him. RIP.
We should all be twice lucky to have a life like his and a father like him. My condolences.
My condolences, Steve.
Well done Ernie, Rest in Peace.
My condolences.
So sorry Steve.
Comb and crucifix cube(?)
Two marlins
Easy Rider(with son than nicholson)before EASY RIDER
Looking like Rio Jesus at Yosemite followed by Rio.
Any significance to these pics?
I wonder if Mr. Sailer Sr. had some Greek blood. He looked like John Cassavetes.
Please accept my condolences. It seems like he was quite healthy right up until near the end. You are fortunate that you had him for so long.
Best Regards.
Regarding my December 1985 Cabo look:
"Somebody just went to see William L. Petersen as Richard Chance" in "To Live and Die in LA"
Yes, I saw the move within the previous few weeks. Good call.
The pictures are great. I enjoy reading about your memories, and your obvious admiration of your dad. So many people have strained relationships with their parents You were lucky to have had him around for so long. My heartfelt sympathy.
Sorry for your loss. My condolences to all the Sailer family.
It does appear he lived a long, healthy, well-loved life.
I knew it!
The moment I saw that picture, I knew it!
Man, those were some good times, though, weren't they – California during the Reagan Administration?
Sweet, sweet memories.
Just curious. Why is junior trying to saw off senior's shoe?
I hope you don't mind another perfect stranger offering you condolences.
Sorry for your loss.
Wonderfully evocative photos, of your father and his time.
It's never easy to lose kin. But he looks like he lived life, and did it for 95 years.
–Erich Schwarz
My condolences.
Im sure a lot pilots and aircrews, flew safe thanks to your dad. And at that time, it was pretty important to keep those planes flying.
Condolences to you and yours, Steve. May your father rest in peace.
He looks like an icon of California's Golden Age — adventuresome, easy-going, and dignified. That shows the most in the Honda 90 picture, where he's got a thick head of dark hair at age 50, but is above having to show it off. Just enjoying the breezes run their fingers through it while taking his son out for a fun ride on a moped.
May his memory be eternal.
I am so sorry for your loss. Your dad looked and seemed like such a spark!
Thank you so much for sharing his passing and these wonderful pictures with us.
You have my condolences, Steve. What a run he had, though! Worked post-war for a company with a good pension, robust health, thirty years of retirement. A good long run. The Lord truly blessed him.
My condolences.
Looks like he was a good man who enjoyed a good life.
The pics prove that your Dad enjoyed life and time with you.
What a great legacy.
Plenty of fathers of this 'greatest generation' just didnt' seem to give a damn.
Glad yours did.
Condolences on his passing.
JFK was also born in 1917.
My condolences, Sailer
My condolences, Steve. Splendid effort to make it to 95, too. May you and all your family members have such longevity.
Very sorry for your loss. He was obviously a great Dad.
Condolences, from yet another anon.
Condolences. And surely he was proud of you. Best wishes to your family.
Very sad…
Every time you wrote about him, your love for father shone through. My sincerest condolences.
I'm sorry for your loss. My condolences to you and your family.
Sorry for your loss. I love the spirit of those pictures. It reminds me of my own grandfather, also of the Greatest Generation, who passed away a few weeks ago. They truly enjoyed the best years America had (or will have) to offer.
I'm sorry for your loss. May your father rest in peace.
My condolences. He was obviously a fine man, and I am sure that you will miss him.
Countries are built by people like this.
Losing one's Dad – this is always a tough one.
Anon.
Ah, what great photos of a great relationship. Somewhere, someone is doing it right, now and then.
I'm sorry for your loss Steve. No matter how old he may have been few things are more painful than the death of a parent.
Gloria
He was from a great generation of Americans, the same generation as my parents. In fact, he was born the same year as my mother. They didn't complain. They worked hard. They sacrificed for their kids. They understood personal responsiblity. How I wish we Boomers had turned out worthy of all that sacrifice.
Sorry about your loss, it's obvious from the pictures a life well lived.
Steve, your dad is gone now and so is California. Joan Didion writes about such extinctions. I'm very sorry for you and your family.
I'm sorry, Steve.
I wanna thank Sr. for the apple sauce drink. RIP.
PS. Born during WWI and lived through Depression, WWII, 50s, 60s, and the rest. Wow, his eyes must have seen much.
Sorry to hear about your father. Looks like he led a great life and a long one.
I'm very sorry for your loss. May you live as long as your father did, and may your sons live longer. Those pictures are pretty inspiring.
My condolences.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
1917. Remarkable.
-Justin
Let me just add that as sad as it must be for you and your family, take heart in knowing that he obviously lived a very long and happy life. It's really something to aspire towards. May we all be so fortunate.
Sorry for your loss, Steve. What a great tribute.
This comment has been removed by the author.
My sympathies, Steve.
My deepest condolences for your loss.
Sorry for your loss, Steve. RIP.
My sincerest condolences, Mr. Sailer. We should all pay tribute to a life well lived, as you've so eloquently described your father's. RIP
Steve, I'm sorry for your loss. My dad passed away this year at the age of 89.
-meh
Sorry for your loss Steve. He seemed like good man and great father.
My sincerest condolences for your loss. I am sure your father died knowing that he had produced such a great man for a son.
Condolences Steve.
Your father looks like a lot of fun–for himself and for those close to him. My condolences to you and your family.
I'm sorry for the loss of your father, Steve.
Sorry to hear about your dad, Steve. Seems like he accomplished a lot and managed to live a great life. I'll consider myself very fortunate if someone can say that about me someday.
Deepest condolences, Steve.
Sorry for your loss Steve. Born the same year year as JFK. That's a good run.
It must take a strong desire to live to make it to age 95, and it looks like your father had that.
Great pictures of what must have been a full life. Condolences.
Strong to the finish cuz he ate his spinach?
My sincerest condolences, Steve, to you and your family.
RIP
Love that picture from the 60s Steve, reminds me of my family in California.
Sorry for your loss steve-o. He did have a good run, making it to 95 after all… He raised a good man,and He undoughtedly knew that. I wish i could give ya a hug buddy, altho i dont know you i consider you a friend, and honestly feel Ur loss.
I honestly cryed reading this post and thread…. Love ya, steve, dont go a-changin…
Rest in peace. Sounds like a life well lived, if only it could be shared by more and perhaps for even longer.
Very sorry for your loss. Thank you for posting these pictures and memories.
My condolences Steve,
Those are superb photographs – looks like you shared some great memories and he lived a good life.
From just the few glimpses you give of your father his looks like it was an extraordinary blessing for himself and for those he knew.
I think I understand better now where you get the strength and optimism to deal with topics that I tend to find crushingly depressing.
I can't say "I'm sorry," because this post has warmed my heart more than anything I have read for a while. You have my condolences for what must be a great loss to you. God bless you.
My condolences, Steve. May he rest in peace.
A fine man, well-remembered by a fine son. May he RIP.
95.
Incredible.
Stanley Kauffmann is still alive at 96.
Another iron man of longevity.
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/4825
Young may be strong but old is gold.
Sorry to hear that, Sailer.
He looks like he lived a wonderful and interesting life Steve.
I am sorry for your loss. He looks like really nice guy.
It must be hard for you. But I'm very glad to hear of his excellent life. May we all aspire to live so well and to be blessed with kids like you. Thanks for sharing, Steve.
i'm very sorry.
Wow, what a dad! I can see some happy times there.
Through your writing, I'd guess there's a bit of him in all of us now, too
A life well lived.
My condolences.
Soon all the great men of that age will pass. Good times that won't come back.
R.I.P., and best wishes to you and your family.
My condolences, Steve.
A good tribute to your father. My father was born the same year.
My condolences to you and your family steve. Going by the pictures it looks like your father lived a rich and full life!
Condolences to you and the rest of your family. He was obviously well-loved and I enjoyed reading the occasional vignettes that you were kind enough to share with us.
The Beatles, as so often, said it best:
"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."
Sorry for your loss, Steve; you have all my sympathies.
Your father led a great life in a great place, during great times.
And he bequeathed a great son, too.
Condolences, Steve.
My condolences
Sorry about your Dad.
I liked the Tuolumne Meadows pictures. My wife and I slept up there on our honeymoon in Sept. of '84, it was so cold in the cap of the pickup our water froze.
My condolences Steve.
I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.
i hope your father knew he raised the best blogger (if not writer) in America right now.
Sorry for your loss
-DKS
Steve,
This might not be the right occasion to mention it but if you wrote an autobiography you know us (your readers) would buy it en masse right?
I'd love to support your blog in that way. Just an idea.
I like it when you talk about your dad, and I think the pictures are great. I am sure you are thinking about him a lot. Feel free to post those thoughts and share if you like.
When my dad passed it really hurt. It didn't matter that he had led a really full life and was successful. That probably made it worse, because he was such a great guy and I would never get to speak to him again.
My prayers and respects go out to you and your entire family.
You only get one dad. You had a great one. You are truly blessed.
I'm so sorry, Steve. Your stories about your father over the years were always great. He was truly one of the men who built the American Century and the Golden Age of California.
I hope I can be as good a father to my children as your's appeared to be to you.
I hope your mother is coping as well as can be expected. Take some time off and spend it with those you love and who love you.
What wonderful photos, and how marvelous that he lived such a long & fulfilling life. Your dad really had an epic schnoz, I must say. 🙂
Thanks for posting this memorial to him; I am very sorry for your loss.
East Coast Anon
I'm sorry, Steve. It looks like he lived life well.
My condolences.
A general theme in these photos is that he usually looks about a decade or more younger than he really was, which reflects his robust health.
He must have been amazingly healthy, given that men of his generation smoked, drank, had poor diets and a lot of stress(Great Depression, WW II). In more recent generations the "-10" look is much more common.
Joy di vivre seeps through all of those pictures.
Those pics tell me he was a caring and attentive father. My best to you and your family at this difficult time.
Those pictures were a beautiful tribute. It looks like you two enjoyed enjoyed a rich relationship. That makes for a good life.
RIP – prayers for your father and your family.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Albertosaurus
Condolences, Steve. He lived a rich and full life. . . .
Sorry for the pain. Congratulations on your childhood. I too spent hours on the back of a trail 90, we had a 13'camp trailer that we used a 46 willies jeep to haul it off any beaten path. One year we hauled that trailer to various parts of the Mojave 50 times.
The first time I was in Cabo around '64 It was just a small fishing village. You and I grew up in the very best of times for a boy.
"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him."
Lux Aeterna
Requiem in pacem.
My sincere condolences – May your father keep up the good fight in Valhalla.
condolences, Steve. Your post here and the photographs are a great tribute to the man.
Sorry for your loss. Condolences to you and your family.
Sorry for your loss, but it looks like your dad had a hell of a good run.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Mr. Hulot. Lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE9t98Gox60
RIP.
I am curious to know whether or not your father influenced your intellectual development in any way? I remember you once posted an article you wrote to The Atlantic while you were still in high school, and it seemed like you were on this path pretty early on. Was he the type who had a lot of "heretical" ideas?
Condolences to you and yours,
He looks like the kind of guy who made America a great country, once upon a time. I loved the holiday snaps from the Golden Age of California.
The present feels like a foreign country, they do things differently here,
1 Samuel 17:55
And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
– 1769 Oxford King James Bible "Authorized Version"
Condolences, Steve.
I'm sorry to read it. Condolences to you and your family, Steve.
Sorry, Steve. God be with you and your family.
You have my sincere condolences, Steve. May God bless you.
Condolences, Curt Dunkel
My sincerest condolences on your loss, Mr. Sailer.
I just returned from a vacation to the Gulf Coast with my Father – who is getting up there in years – where we took many pictures together like some of the ones you have published here. Thinking on this, how much I dread facing the day my Dad is no longer here with us, I cannot begin to imagine the grief you are feeling now.
Again, my sincerest condolences, and both you and your family will be in the Sylvester household's thoughts & prayers.
As others have commented, it can come off as trite or insincere when a stranger offers condolences to another stranger over the loss of someone he/she didn't know. But in the year or so since I stumbled upon your site, I've read probably five or six posts where you wrote your father. Each post stood out, and each post stuck in my memory.
That's because you wrote affectionately and admiringly about a most impressive and interesting man.
From the way you described your dad, it sounds as though your loss will be the world's loss as well.
Thank you for sharing your stories and pictures. Condolences and best wishes to you and your family. May you still be writing the sharpest commentary in the land at 95 (and beyond).
So sorry for your loss. Darn good run.
RIP.
He seems to have well lived.
Condolences.
My condolences, Steve.
Gilbert Pinfold
Steve,
My condolences.
Mis mas sentidas condalencias.
Steve, longtime reader /commentator, as with others just dropping in to express my sympathy.
Condolences.
Mr. Sailer:
It is so very hard to lose a Father. Mine died several years ago, and a period of deep mourning followed. And to this day I miss him. The clock keeps ticking, and we must press on. But it's tough.
My sincere condolences.
J. Paige Straley
My condolences. He will live on in your memories and lives of those he touched.
95 is a pretty good run.
Can't ask for more than that
Steve,
I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad he lived as long and well as he did.
Very sorry to hear about your father's death, Steve.
Seems he lived a full life. Did everything he was put on this earth to do and then some. All deaths are sad but it's how one lives one's life that determines whether the sadness is bitter or sweet.
my condolences to your family. i loved the photos.
RIP
AZ reader
My condolences to you and your family, Steve.
cipher
Father knows best.
"May we ask what your father thought of your work?"
I'll bet it was…
'boys will be boys'.
My sincere, heart-felt condolonces, Mr. Sailer.
Steve, it is clear that your ability to understand what has been lost stems, in large measure, from the time and place of endless summer where you were born and the man who worked hard to build and buttress the foundations of that time and place, as well as the love and effort expended in tending to his little corner of the world. Thanks for sharing a little bit of that world with us.
I am truly sorry for your loss.
Condolences. Your work speaks to what a remarkable man he was. Over the years reading you I've been deeply impressed by him, and that's offhand, without you even trying. I think without him there may have been a genius out there accomplishing something or other, but only with him would we have gotten Steve Sailer, MVP journalist of the last 15 years and counting. RIP and I hope I live to be so valuable and lucky..
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Condolences from Spain. Your dad absolutely seemed to be a great person.
My condolences. It seems like a life well lived.
He looks like a fine man. They don't make them like they used to. I hope you and your family find peace. He has.
A general theme in these photos is that he usually looks about a decade or more younger than he really was, which reflects his robust health.
He looks like he could be in his late 40s in that picture at the museum.
What kind of exercise did he do? He wasn't a jogger, was he? Did he do a lot of leisurely outdoor activities?
"What kind of exercise did he do?"
I can't recall him ever exercising for the sake of exercising (i.e., he never "worked out"). He was always in motion, but for some purpose of his — trim the bushes, see what's on the other side of the mountain, and so forth.
My condolences
My Condolences, Steve. He seemed to have a very long and happy life.
My condolences Steve.
I second anon above: Well done, Ernie.
My condolences. Thanks for this moving post.
Ernie Borgnine's life spanned the same years as your father's.
-meh
I'm very sorry for your loss.