Erik Rosenquist
June 3, 1961 - January 6, 2021
John Erik Rosenquist passed away at his home in Berkeley, CA at the age of 59 after a long and hard fought struggle with cancer. He was born in Sacramento, CA and preceded in death by his father Robert and beloved brothers Kurt Andrew and Karl Robert. Erik will be remembered fondly as a loving big brother to Kris, and a first- born son to Connie, and husband and father to Laura, Marin and Anders respectively. He also leaves behind sister- in- law Toni, and two loving nephews, Alexander and Erikson. He will be especially missed by the scores of friends and musicians that had the pleasure to know him, not only for his chops on the alto saxophone, but for his passion and hyper- creative style with which he approached everything in life, be it hosting a Christmas Party, clay- mation film making, barbequing prowess, designing contest- winning Halloween costumes at work, student directing the Cal Marching Band, or leading any one of numerous jazz bands over the decades.
Erik’s early life took him to homes across the west and country as the family moved from Sacramento to Brea, CA, and then on to Bel Air, MD in the early seventies. Erik found a love for nature and living things there in the woods behind his home on Linwood Ave…. his Dad wrote how Erik just loved to explore and find turtles, baby raccoons, watch the fireflies at night, and cicadas and majestic red cardinals. A fifty mile hike through the Appalachians with the local Boy Scout Troop surely gave him further taste for outdoor explorations. From there the family moved back to CA, this time Fullerton. A cross country drive with younger brother Karl and Dad created memorable stories told for many years. While living there Erik attended junior high and high school before embarking on the next phase of his life, as a student at Cal Berkeley.
While at Cal, Erik’s passion for music and direction inspired him to become an active member of both the Cal Marching Band ( ultimately becoming its student- director in the year of ‘ The Play’, in 1982) and the Straw Hat band for basketball games. He loved college sports for all his life, and was an ardent Bears fan. Erik was a math major at Cal before graduating and moving on to work at several jobs over the years as a software engineer in the early days of the tech boom. Erik had a passion for maps, and was perhaps happiest in his work as a cartographer for Etak, a pioneering company in digital mapping, which we all benefit from today. All throughout, Erik continued to nurture his truest love, music. Erik led and wrote music for several musical groups:
K. A. Wonton Little Latin
Big Band, Bug Horn Rex, the California Repercussions (‘ Reapers’) to name a few. He especially enjoyed playing and listening to latin style jazz and New Orleans inspired Dixieland. Erik was a professional musician, training for a time with famous American jazz drummer and composer, Louie Belson; he was particularly proud to join the Louie Belson Big Band at the San Jose Jazz festival.
As mentioned above, Erik loved nature and the outdoors. For a time he was an active spelunker, exploring caves throughout the Sierra foothills, Santa Cruz mountains, and beyond with close knit friends, declaring themselves at least once as the ‘ Caving Church’. Erik loved the state of California for its diverse ecology and history... he famously took a couple buddies and made it a mission to set foot in all of CA’s 58 counties in a weekend, taking a picture in front of each sign. Famed SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen made note of their exploits…. And treasure hunts. Erik also loved good puzzles to solve, and created ‘ treasure hunts’, complete with riddles and clues to find hidden silver bullion.
In 1994 Erik married Laura Smith, and soon after they found their peaceful mountain home at ‘ Shadow Bend’ nestled among the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains. Decorated with art and an eccentric flair that defined them, it became the site of epic Christmas parties each first Saturday of December bringing in friends and family from all over... Not long into their time there, Erik became a father of two children, Marin and Anders; who have carried on his musical talents and creativity, making him proud always.
A nucleus of close friends from Cal, former work, and various musical groups have added an indispensable dimension to Erik’s life. Our family thanks ALL of these special individuals for their loving support during these difficult months.
Erik was a ‘ big energy’ guy, and did things his way always. The world is poorer to lose his creative genius. Peace can be taken that his long struggle is over, the pain is gone, and his spirit free at last.. Rest in peace my brother.
A small graveside service will take place on Friday, January 15th at 11 AM at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito. A larger celebration of Erik’s life will be held at our Monterey Ave Berkeley house when such activity is allowed. If you wish to give a tribute to Erik in his memory, please consider the California Jazz Conservatory, 2087 Addison St., Berkeley, CA 94704. The school’s founder Susan Muscarella, and Erik knew and respected one another during his years at Cal.