E.T. call home !
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In HALIFAX, March 3rd/4th, 2004
Richard Tooker Daniel GOMBERG
entered a new dimension
Richard Tooker Gomberg,
environmentalist, recycler, journalist and politician, has departed our realm...
yet he lives in our hearts
VISIT GREENSPIRATION WEBSITE
Tooker's partner, Angela Bischoff was in Montreal (March 10-14)
with Tooker's family (his brothers and parents) for a Memorial.
Other MEMORIALS and Commemorative events were held:
EDMONTON = March 15th
TORONTO = March 21st
MONTREAL = March 25th
HALIFAX = March 28th
For more information, in Toronto,you can e-mail Mez at mez@publicspace.ca
At the Memorial in Toronto
Click here for more pictures
The Memorial held in Montreal on Wednesday March 10th at 15:15, was well attended,
as expected since he was raised there and he had touched the lives of so many in Montreal,
both in the bicycling world and his work in recycling & the environment.
His three brothers, Frank, Ben and Avi, recalled his sense of humour, adventure
and how greatly he loved the people,
giving time to all, including children, street people, workers and animals.
They remembered the numerous bicycle trips he undertook, both in Canada and around the world, his college days, his recycling, wearing natural fibers, gardening, the time when he helped squatters who had reclaimed an old building in Montreal to fix it inside and out,
before being forced out by the police. Claire Morissette, a spokeslady from "Le Monde à bicyclette" (now called "Cyclo Nord Sud")
recalled his involvement with bicycling and recycling, his joie de vivre, gusto, laughter.
If he knew of them, he helped any and all who really should have gotten help.
Claire said: "There must be many in this room, other environmentalists, who came today. Some may be struggling, for it is not an easy course to change the world." (adressing the audience:)"To these people who may also feel fragile, let us give our support."
When Angela finally spoke, after a lenghty silence where we all felt our great loss with her, it was light and friendly, remembering their seventeen years together, his dreams, hopes, some of his quirks and his realizations. How at age 12 he stopped eating animal meat. His innate ability to communicate with people of other unknown languages.
Everyone agreed, we have gained greatly from Tooker;
one of his richnesses was also that he was always ready to try new ways.
She said: Though our loss is great at this time, what he started will continue to grow, and what we have learned from him will also let us go further in our own lives, touching more people as time goes. He was an inspiration.
Angela said a Fondation will continue the work he started with GREENSPIRATION.
In this vein, she said donations can be made to the Greenspiration Foundation.
Article by Danielle Duval LeMyre
E-Mail: ddlemyre@yahoo.com
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From March 9th 2004 Montreal Gazette:
GOMBERG, Tooker Richard Daniel.
Passed away on Wednesday, March 3, 2004: Dearly loved husband and companion of Angela Bischoff. Cherished son of Dr. Charles L. Gomberg and Bayla Rosen Gomberg. Loving, caring and inspiring brother of Frank, Ben, and Avi. Dearly loved uncle of Noah and Jessie and many nieces and nephews. A creative pioneer for the welfare of the environment, who had great hopes and dreams to better the world.
A memorial service will be held at Paperman & Sons, 3888 Jean Talon W, on Wednesday, March 10 at 3:15 p.m.
Shiva will be held in Outremont.
Donations may be made to the Tooker Gomberg Greenspiration Fund,
c/o The Montreal Bicycle Education Education Society, (514) 843-0077.
We have lost a unique human being. 
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Cyclo Nord Sud
(previously known as: Le Monde à Bicyclette)
Claire Morissette
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Indymedia Newswire and Tooker or at the website http://hamilton.indymedia.org/newswire/display/6119/index.php
March 20, 2004
or
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/118132.php
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03.11.04 = Eye Weekly Editorial: "What Tooker taught us"
www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_03.11.04/op/editorial.html
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Globe & Mail - Tooker Gomberg presumed dead
at www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040305.wgomb03205/BNStory/Front/
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NATIONAL POST
Tooker is Missing, possibly dead
at www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.html?id=760f6b3b-78ca-4e1d-a760-97e14305cc9b
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THE STAR
Police fear city activist Gomberg took his own life, bike was found
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1078528211540
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Mar. 6, 2004. 01:00 AM
Peter Blanchard
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3333
posted 07 March 2004 11:53 PM
--------------------------
Want to learn more about Tooker, what he stood for, and what we can do about it?
HERE ARE Tooker's Writings, Links, News, Discussion, Community
The Sad News
Announcement sent to Planet-Friendly list
at www.planetfriendly.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55
www.planetfriendly.net/tooker
Discussion, Announcements & Building Community
Tooker Gomberg - Online Discussion Forum & Announcements
www.planetfriendly.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=19
A chat thread on Tooker, hosted by Rabble.ca
www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=005761
Tooker's Writings & Related Links
Greenspiration - Tooker & Angela's "around-the-world
odyssey documenting and sharing inspiring ecological stories" at www.greenspiration.org
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Tooker & Angela's Greenspiration E-mail List:
Archives for the Toronto-based list:
http://list.web.ca/archives/greenspirationto-l/
Tooker Gomberg - Writings and Links
www.greenspiration.org
www.google.com/search?q=%22tooker+gomberg%22
http://news.google.com/news?q=%22tooker+gomberg%22
Being an Activist, Changing the World
www.greenspiration.org/Article/TenCommandments.html
www.sierraclub.ca/national/activist.html
www.planetfriendly.net/enviro.html
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Caring too much, caring too little, by Peter Blanchard
www.planetfriendly.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=82
www.abbeyweb.net/quotes.htx?query=paragraph&op=search
www.planetfriendly.net/health.html#stress
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Creating Stronger Community -- Links, Resources, Discussion
www.planetfriendly.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=18
www.planetfriendly.net/community.html#anywhere
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many, many years, jiivan (jean blais mathieu) was friends & worked with tooker
... lastly during his toronto campaign
Tooker indeed lives in our hearts and the vision he shared with Angela
and so many of us, leaving us with a template for the Future,
will enable us all to continue in this work.
love, danielle
http://www.geocities.com/daniellla.geo/gomberg.html
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"Take care of yourself and each other" - Tooker Gomberg
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Other page for Picture of Tooker and Angela
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GLOBE AND MAIL, March 6th 2004
Police fear city activist took own life -
Gomberg battled with depression -
Bike was found on Halifax bridge Mar.5, 2004
CHRISTIAN COTRONEO
STAFF REPORTER
A helmet and bicycle on a bridge.
So far, that's all police can find of Tooker Gomberg, who spearheaded environmental campaigns, duelled with the establishment and vied to be Toronto's mayor.
And they're assuming the worst.
"All indications are he jumped off the bridge, but we've not found a body so we have to treat it as a missing person at this time," said Sergeant Don Spicer of the Halifax Region police.
Investigators say the 48-year old may have leapt from the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge just after midnight on Thursday.
"He suffered on and off with depression for the last three years," said friend Dave Meslin. "Depression took his life."
The abandoned cycling gear strikes a special chord for another old friend, who often joined Gomberg on the streets and trails of Toronto.
"I'm going to miss my bike rides, talking politics and change with Tooker Gomberg," said federal New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, who knew Gomberg for about a decade.
"We'd be out on our bikes together, off to meetings, protests, council meetings, you name it. He was a special guy."
In a way, the streets he toured in this city — as well as several others — owe a little of their shine to Gomberg. He founded one of Canada's first curbside recycling programs in Montreal, where he grew up, before moving to Edmonton and serving as a city councillor.
"He was a leader in municipal government in bringing large composting into waste management in Edmonton and played a very significant role there," Layton recalled.
But to Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), "he was a thorn in the side of ... many of us who didn't share his ideology."
In the mid-1990s, Gomberg moved to Toronto with his partner, Angela Bischoff, where he lobbied to stop the Adams mine proposal, which would have sent Toronto's garbage by rail to Kirkland Lake.
Today, his legacy extends to nearly every driveway in Toronto. "If there's a spiritual father of the green-box program," Layton said, "it's Tooker Gomberg."
He and Bischoff moved to Nova Scotia last year and the two have been travelling the world by bike, reporting on environmental initiatives.
"I feel so saddened by Tooker's passing," Layton said. "But particularly for Angela, who was his wonderful partner and worked so hard and gave so much of her life to try and help him through his depressions. In the end, they were too much."
With files from Vanessa Lu, Catherine Porter and Canadian Press
