Eric George Gaal

Obituary

Eric George Gaal of Berkeley, California, known throughout his worldly travels as a consummate, unrelenting punster, told his last joke on October 1, 2024, at age 68. Sadly, he experienced a fatal hemorrhagic stroke, and died very quickly. We take comfort in knowing that he didn’t suffer. Eric was deeply loved and is dearly missed. 

Eric attended Overland Avenue Elementary School, Daniel Webster Junior High School, and Venice High School in Los Angeles before studying for two years at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. The summer after his sophomore year, he suffered a traumatic brain injury while a counselor at Camp Trinity on the Bar 717 Ranch in Hayfork, California, where he and all family members enjoyed multiple summers. The accident severely compromised Eric’s short-term memory and executive functioning, but not his will to live or his enthusiasm for exploring other cultures. Defying long odds, he relearned to walk and talk, and then set out to travel the world, including many parts of Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia. After two years of teaching English to college students in China, he returned home and began to teach himself to read and speak Mandarin. He later added Spanish to the mix and kept studying both—practicing daily with friends and strangers—until the end.

When mobility and budget challenges curtailed his international travel, Eric settled, in his own peripatetic way, alternately between his brother’s family’s home in Berkeley and his mother’s home in Winter Park, Colorado. His family is eternally grateful to untold numbers of friends, family, and acquaintances who fed, housed, and enjoyed chatting with Eric during his various journeys. He likely repaid you with stories you will long remember, and that’s legacy enough.

Those who knew Eric in childhood remember that he was charismatic and confident, an “A” student, a skilled drummer and avid cyclist. Those who knew him later in his life, as a fixture at his favorite cafes and pizzerias in Berkeley, likely remember him as a big-hearted raconteur, an insightful and sometimes contrarian philosopher, and a voracious reader, who was every bit as curious about the world as the world was about him.

Eric was predeceased by his parents Peter George Gaal and Aileen Glassoff Gaal. He is survived by his siblings Linda Gaal (Rachel Efron), Ronny Gaal (Penny Peak), and Jennifer Sampson (Russel Sampson) and by his stepparent Sandy Gaal and half-sister Becky Gaal (Evan Wade) as well as many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to KQED-FM Radio, which Eric listened to whenever he was awake or asleep, or to the Campership program at Eric’s beloved Bar 717 Ranch.