Keith Silva

October 9, 1947 - December 10, 2022

Long time Fairfax CA resident, Keith Vincent Silva, passed away at his home on December 10, 2022 after a short, but arduous battle with urothelial carcinoma.

Keith was born in San Francisco on October 9, 1947. His family lived for a short while in Larkspur, California before moving to Monterey,California where Keith spent most of his school years. He received a teaching degree from UC Berkeley. Upon graduating he joined the Teacher Corps, met up with fellow Teacher Corps trainees in the Salinas Valley and was assigned with a core group to Malaysia. So began Keith’s love of adventure and friend making. The Teacher Corps group just celebrated their 50th reunion, and Keith was among them, jubilant and buoyant as ever.

Following the Teacher Corps, Keith sojourned to London where he met Leslie Dektor, a photographer. Keith became his assistant, living in London for 4 years. He learned the photography trade, returning to San Francisco to open his own commercial photography business on Clementina Alley, south of Market Street. For the next 35 years he photographed models and products, food and people, making friends of advertising clients, fellow artists and, indeed, everyone he met. Keith loved his work. When the film world turned digital, Keith decided to retire. He did learn digital photography, but instead of using it commercially, he made art at his home studio. His creativity was boundless, exuberant, colorful and surprising.

Keith travelled extensively throughout his life, visiting Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia a second time, Bali, Cuba, the Bahamas, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, and Poland. Still on his bucket list were Papua New Guinea and Mongolia.

Keith loved riding his mountain bike in the hills of Fairfax, which he had been doing since the 1980s; he loved walking his dog in the hills above town or in the watershed area; he loved talking to everyone he met, learning their story. He never met a stranger whose life didn’t fascinate him. He was a true adventurer, lover of life, an artist, a beautiful man.

In 1998, Keith met the love of his life, Deborah Urban, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was a volunteer and she was a staff member and they met in a meeting. They spent 24 years together, marrying last year. Keith was the most happily married man.

Keith was preceded in death by his father Carlo and his brother Mark. Keith is survived by his wife, Deb Urban, his mother, Barbara Silva, his siblings, Grace Silva Santella (Ray), Vincent Silva ((Debbie ),Stephen Silva, David Silva (Linda Spangler) as well as by his non-sibling brothers Eric Watterud, Adrian Gordon, Thomas Luehrsen and David Campbell.

May he rest forever in peace and love. A celebration of his life will be held in the Spring.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Equal Justice Initiative, 122 Commerce St., Montgomery, Alabama 36104. eji.org