Roger Lerman: ‘His loss is immeasurable’
When Steve Natelson, a New York Yankees man, sat down to watch his team take on the Red Sox recently, something was missing.
It was too quiet.
He missed the sound of his buddy Roger Lerman, a diehard Boston fan, yelling at the television as their teams battled it out. “I was more of a placid fan,” Natelson said, chuckling a little.
“He was a unique asset to this community, from helping to start recycling, Taos Charter School building, beekeeping – everything to do with helping this community,” Natelson said, his voice emotional over the phone. “His loss is immeasurable.” Lerman died in a backhoe accident May 13. He was 70.
That Lerman was out alone on a backhoe at his age says something about his independent streak.
He was a practical man. He knew plumbing and construction. “He worked with his hands. He had chickens and goats and mowed his own fields and really fit into the Taos lifestyle,” Natelson said.
“He was a do-it-yourself kind of guy,” agreed another longtime friend, Bruce Grossman.
His practicality extended to his death; he had written his own obituary, said his wife of 30 years, Roberta Lerman.
And so, he described himself as a “true naturalist and outdoorsman, Roger was a consummate beekeeper, birdwatcher, camper and hiker.”
He “loved country dancing with his ‘spice,’ beating her at tennis and cards, taking walks, watching movies, sailing on turquoise waters.” All of which his spice, Roberta, agreed with. “We did a lot together,” she said. “He was a really big country music fan. I had to fall in love with country music when I fell in love with him.”
They danced together to the Rifters, South by Southwest, Jimmy Stadler and the like.
““He was just the smartest and most honest man I have ever met,” she said.
He was devoted to his three children, many friends and family, both by his own account, and theirs.
He had a broad range of interests and skills.
Lerman spent 40 years fascinated by bees and he was good at beekeeping. “Beekeeping was his one hobby that he didn’t want to make money at,” his wife said. “He was proud of the fact that he never sold a jar of honey. He would trade for it – a cake, meat from a hunter.”
He took care of spiritual matters as well, deeply involved with the Jewish community. He helped bring three different sacred Torahs to the Jewish community, including one dating to the 1770s that had survived the Holocaust.
He loved the library at the Taos Jewish Center on Gusdorf Road. He built the bookcases, organized the shelves. “Whenever there was a new book in, he would get excited and share it with me,” said Grossman.
He was instrumental in the town’s first recycling center and helped develop Taos Charter School.
He took care of the Jewish cemetery. He built the caskets. With his backhoe, he dug the graves. “He took that on and made sure people got a proper burial,” Grossman said.
His friends and beloved family gave a proper sendoff to a man who “loved his community, its mountains, valleys and acequias.”
As for Natelson, he borrowed one of his friend’s Red Sox caps from the family. He sat it in a chair near him when he watched them play the Yankees.
He could almost hear Lerman yell at the TV.
Lerman is preceded in death by his parents Jacob and Jeanne Lerman, his aunt Lo, older brother Marty, close childhood friends Danny Raven and Alan Shapiro. Roger is survived by his wife, Roberta, and three children Daniel (Paloma), Elie and Joseph. He is also survived by his brother Steve, sister-in-law Phyllis and his mom of 57 years, Frances Lerman.
Donations may be made to Taos Community Foundation, PO 1925, Taos, NM 87571; The Friends of Taos Charter School, PO 3009, Ranchos de Taos, NM
87557 or the Taos Jewish Center,
1335 Gusdorf Road, Suite R, Taos, NM 87571.