Al Silverman (March 2, 1927 to June 20, 2016)

Biography by David Oakley

On June 20, 2016 Al Silverman passed away at his apartment in El Cajon. Sadly Al had been sick for a number of years and had trouble breathing. I first met Al at the local bridge club, a predecessor of Adventures in Bridge run by Gladys Knox at the Barcelona Hotel on Juniper Street in downtown San Diego. Silverman was a sort of an adult hippy, independently wealthy but with a meager supply of funds gained from the sale of an apartment building. Al and I shared several interests in common: bridge, photography and electronics engineering. After seeing my play he suggested I buy a copy of Why You Lose at Bridge, the classic book by S.J. Simon. More of that later.

Al was born March 2, 1927 in Indianapolis, growing up there and attending high school in Indiana. He received an engineering degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. At some time or other, he was in the army before moving to San Diego. Probably in the late 1950’s, he worked for General Dynamics and possibly in the 1960’s taught digital design at San Diego State.

Al was a musician, who played the accordion in Balboa Park on Sundays. Each busker had his spot and Al had his, occasionally collaborating with other performers. Until his wake, I did not realize that Al also played on Princess Cruise Lines, obviously having quite a bit of talent, as you don’t get that type of gig without good bar receipts!

Back to bridge, Al coached a number of younger players including me. There were always controversies about bidding and prowess at rubber-bridge. An infamous team challenge at something like 10 cents at point never came off.

With my work and family pressing, Al and I lost contact in around 1980. He wrote a book about computer software, The Copyright Game, Etc.: A Strategic Guide for the Computer Software User, published in 1991. It is available (and unreviewed) on Amazon.

Later in life, Al moved to Ballantyne St. in El Cajon, spending his final years, there. John Strauch and his son Mark kept up with Al, visiting him every week until the end.

Back to S.J. Simon’s book, the subtlety in the title never occurred to me until Al Silverman’s wake, Sunday July 17, 2016. In addition to the sections about technical errors and playing the opponents, there is a large section devoted to Simon’s favorite play the ‘loser-on-loser’! And last, make sure you listen to Al’s rendition of ‘After You’ve Gone’.

More Pictures

Enlarge This Image Al Silverman beating Charlie Finch at chess