ROBERT GABRIEL BRENTANO

Robert Gabriel Brentano, 59, born March 24, 1963, died peacefully at South Marin Health and Wellness Center in Greenbrae, California, on April 7, 2022.  Robert, son of loving parents Robert James Brentano and Carroll Winslow Brentano, was born at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, where he grew up with his brother James and sister Margaret.  He attended schools and vocational programs in Berkeley, including King TMR, where he learned to read and write, and SPRED, Special Religious Education, Diocese of Oakland.  He lived more than twenty-five years at Cedars, in Ross, California, where he won medals in Special Olympics, and, through the Cedars Community Challenge Program, volunteered at the Marine Mammal Center and Marin General Hospital, among other places.  Summers he spent in Italy with his family.
            Robert's joyous enthusiasm for life was an inspiration to everyone who encountered him. When out for a walk, he nodded and said hello to passers-by, and he greeted friends and relatives with a cries of happy recognition and huge hugs.  Robert loved cats, sandwiches, Abbott & Costello, and the kind men and women who took care of him. He loved sitting crosslegged on his bed looking through the paper or studying the listings in TV guide. He loved his father, his mother, his sister, his brother, his nephews and nieces and everyone in his family.  He loved going bowling with his housemates; loved going on errands to buy batteries, loved saying grace, loved long breakfasts, loved shaving and swearing and dancing, loved playing the radio loud in the car, singing along and snapping his fingers with all the windows open.  He loved every manifestation of time and the changing seasons: he collected calendars, celebrated the phases of the moon, knew people's birthdays, and checked his watch frequently, announcing each minute of life with delight. 
            His family is grateful for the tender, heartfelt care he received at Cedars, and, in his final years, at the South Marin Health and Wellness Center.  He will be much missed by his Brentano and Baker families: James, Thama, Andrew, Katherine, Travis, Walker, Linden, Jena, Margaret, Nicholson, Alice, Asher, Elias, his aunt Dorrie, many cousins, and innumerable friends.
            Anyone wishing to make a donation in Robert’s honor may contribute to Cedars, PO Box 947, Ross, CA 94957, cedarslife.org.