Rick Alber

Surrounded by his loving family Rick Alber left this world on Friday, October 17, 2014 after unexpected complications resulting from scheduled heart surgery. He was 62 years old. Our lives fractured that day just like the San Andreas fault did on the same date 25 years ago.
Born in Burbank to Jack and Terry Alber, Rick was always the calmest, smartest and most confident person that any of his many friends knew. He is survived by his wife, Maureen McVerry, daughter Flannery (23) of San Francisco, son Jack (18) currently attending George Washington University in Washington DC and his brother Jon, of Los Angeles.
Rick graduated from Birmingham High School, in Van Nuys, CA and was a third generation Trojan at USC. He received his J.D., from Stanford Law School and was admitted to the California Bar. He practiced law for two San Francisco law firms: Feldman, Waldman and Kline, and Niesar, Moody, Hill and Massey. Rick found that the work of his Silicon Valley technology based clients interested him more than the law and the course of his career moved in that direction.
Rick was a font of entrepreneurial ideas. He consistently understood where the "next big thing" was coming from in technology. Most of Rick's friends agree that the first time they heard about a given innovation in technology they heard it from Rick, usually so far in advance of the innovation's arrival that the whole idea seemed kind of farfetched. Over the course of his career, Rick served as President of the K/A Group, Director of Product Marketing/ Business Development of Local2Me.Com, Senior Director of Product Development at Build Point, and also worked at SportsTrac, Slate Corp., Soft Peddle and Borland.
But Rick was anything but a narrowly focused "techie". He was passionate about the theater, especially his wife Maureen's shows. Rick was a champion of the local comedy troupe, Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre. He was also an ace filmmaker, famous for the short films he produced for his friends and family, all created under the tag "It Ain't Over Till It's Over" Productions. Rick shared his technological expertise as a radio personality as well, appearing as "Dr. Web" an experienced, yet skeptical, computer enthusiast who sniffed at the hype but championed the truly innovative on Leo Laporte's show "The Tech Guy", first for KSFO, later for KGO and syndicated to over 100 markets.
An outstanding athlete, Rick excelled in baseball, tennis, swimming, and skiing; he had a sweet jump shot and an arm like a cannon. His softball team might groan as Rick let two strikes go by as he waited for the pitch that inevitably put the ball exactly where he wanted it; he never missed his pitch.
Rick was a proud Democrat, one of the first among his friends to assert that, "Obama has this thing in the bag". He applied his technological expertise to his political beliefs and oversaw all the on-line activities of Barbara Boxer's reelection campaign from 1997 to 1999. A lover of newspapers, he contributed to the SF Chronicle's Letter to the Editor and Leah Garchic's column.
Rick was an enthusiastic craftsman, carpenter, electrician, plumber as needed. He never worried if he didn't know what he was doing; his confidence resulted in a series of elegant "Rick Alber quick fixes" that were beautiful while they lasted.
But Rick's true passion was his family, whom he treasured above all things. He was especially fond of San Francisco's Camp Mather. Many folks who would never have known that magical place do now because they were encouraged to go by Rick.
It is fitting in this World Series year to note that Rick was a diehard Giant's fan . He and his wife took a romantic trip to spring training in Arizona: for their honeymoon. Like all Giant's fans he exulted when we finally broke through in the magical 2010 year justifying his many earlier predictions of victory over the years that were, like his understanding of technology: ahead of their time.
Husband, father, uncle, brother, lawyer, computer expert, theatre enthusiast, filmmaker, athlete, friend, and surprisingly a fantastic groomer of the 3 cockapoos he owned and loved, Rick was a man for all seasons and has left an ocean sized hole in the lives of so many, a hole we now fill with treasured memories that will live in our hearts forever.
Finally, Rick was very active in the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association and was in fact slated to receive CMTA's Rebecca Sand Volunteer of the Year Award in December of this year. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations in Rick's memory be made to: Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association, P.O. Box 105 Glenolden, PA 19036 or online at: http://goo.gl/06PrwR