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Breast Cancer

To the Family of Robert Schimmel

By One Comment2 min read

Our thoughts are with you at this very difficult time and our best wishes for Aliyah for her recovery.  Sometimes with all that you have been through, life makes little sense. Now is one of those times.

Having lost my parents at a young age, I had problems understanding why things happen when they did.  But I keep remembering the words that on Yom Kippur it is written who shall live and who shall die as a way to make sense of something which makes little sense and it helps to some extent.

The reason I am writing is that I want to share with you how our paths unexpectedly crossed with Robert’s which has left us with special memories and gratitude to a very special man.

Prior to the start of Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer we were known as The Eva Brownman Breast Cancer Fund and organized fund raising events.  One spring, we had a comedy night at the Comedy Connection in the middle of the week to benefit breast cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  I bet you can guess the rest.

Robert was scheduled to appear at the Comedy Connection over the weekend and stopped in during the week and saw information about our event.  Since it was for cancer there was no way he was not going to be involved.  So he surprised us and added himself to the evening festivities just because he wanted to and it was for cancer and he could not be in town and not do the show!  That is the Robert Schimmel we knew – a very special and giving man who made our event an evening to remember.

After the show, he gave me his agent’s information in LA and said anytime we need anything to call.  The handwritten note stayed on my bulletin board until ironically just last week.  We never did another comedy night, maybe because we did not think we could duplicate the one we did!

I did see Robert perform when he came to Boston from time to time.  I never did get a chance to say hello again but he gave us an extraordinary gift for which we will always be thankful for!

One Comment

  • Kason says:

    I did not know Robert Schimmel and his comedy but heard a rebroadcast of a Terry Gross interview with him on Fresh Air this week. What an amazing man he was – still holding on to his humor despite losing a child to cancer and being a cancer patient himself. When asked who had helped him to get through his own battle, in addition to citing his family and friends, he did a very gracious shout-out to patients who volunteer for studies of new treatments. Only half of them get the latest treatment being tested but most do it with the desire to eliviate the suffering of future patients. A classy guy despite his association with Howard Stern.

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