Clifford Lawrence Weinberger

Clifford Lawrence Weinberger, 70, died on August 8, 2020. Cliff would appreciate the fact that the date was 08/08/2020 as all his life he loved looking for synchronicities and patterns in numbers.

Cliff was born on February 15, 1950 on Long Island, New York. He was the second child of Doris and Irving Weinberger. The young family of four moved to Los Angeles to join Irv’s sister and the rest of Irv’s family soon followed. There the Weinbergers settled into their lives in the San Fernando Valley becoming active founding members of Temple Ramah. Cliff’s dad, Irv, opened a business - first Berry & Sweeny, then Benefit Drugs and finally Tapo Pharmacy - where Cliff and all of his siblings would help out during their teenage years. After graduation from Chatsworth High School, Cliff ran the hobby shop at Tapo Pharmacy and later worked at Smith Brother’s Hobby Shop for the next 20 years, loving all aspects of model making and helping the customers he served.

Cliff had a few lifelong passions, not the least of which was baseball. He was a veritable fountain of knowledge about baseball history and minute details. Cliff formulated an impressive archive of baseball player stats, handwriting season and career numbers for each player on cards he designed. He also had a huge pin collection from every team, which he carefully arranged over the years on big boards and loved to show off. Cliff’s team was the Dodgers and he followed them from the time they moved to Los Angeles when he was seven, until his passing. As a young adult, Cliff made his way to many a Dodger game, and when he didn’t attend a game, he loved to listen to Vin Scully call the games on the radio. He continued to follow them when he moved to Bainbridge in
2006.

Cliff moved to Kitsap County where two of his siblings lived. His first residence was at Serenity House, followed by years at Hope House. Cliff quickly became adept at using the Access bus and would take it two times a week to the Bainbridge Aquatic Center where he would walk laps for two to three miles (that is NOT a typo). He had many friends from the pool, the Senior Centers in Bremerton and Bainbridge Island, where he delighted them with his stories, sly sense of humor and quick wit. Cliff also attended services weekly at Congregation Kol Shalom, creating a community of friends there too. He had a twinkle in his eye, and made friends wherever he went.

Cliff is pre-deceased by his mother and father, Doris and Irving Weinberger, and nephew Matthew Gaphni. He is survived by his siblings, Jessi Coleman (Daniel), Judy Stackhouse (Marcus), Mark Weinberger (Eden), Israel Gaphni (Robin) and niece Jennifer Green (Rich). He also leaves behind many nieces and nephews and a grand niece scattered throughout Washington, California, Tennessee and Virginia. There are many “Cliff-izms” we’d like to share, but will leave you with the one he liked to use from time to time. “Three people knew about this, me, myself and I.”

Donations in Cliff’s memory may be made to:

Congregation Kol Shalom
9010 Miller Rd NE
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Arrangements entrusted to Cook Family Funeral Home of Bainbridge Island, WA