Erik Rothenberg Death | Passed Away | Obituary
Erik Rothenberg Death – Dead: A great loss was made known to InsideEko. As friends and families of the deceased are mourning the passing of their loved and cherished Erik Rothenberg.
Having heard about this great loss, the family of this individual is passing through pains, mourning the unexpected passing of their beloved.
This departure was confirmed through social media posts made by Twitter users who pour out tributes, and condolences to the family of the deceased.
We mourn the loss of one of #VoteHemp founding board members, Erik Rothenberg. He was an inspirational visionary who helped us develop a treatise on returning sustainable #hemp farming to the U.S. May he Rest In Peace. Thanks for the tribute by
@DrBronner
We mourn the loss of one of #VoteHemp founding board members, Erik Rothenberg. He was an inspirational visionary who helped us develop a treatise on returning sustainable #hemp farming to the U.S. May he Rest In Peace. Thanks for the tribute by @DrBronner: https://t.co/fvEV7BhIjA pic.twitter.com/sB0sihYq8q
— Vote Hemp (@votehemp) July 10, 2020
“Our friend and larger than life hemp hero Erik Rothenberg departed this world last Thursday, surrounded by love, family and friends.Erik is who first turned me on to and sold us our first hemp oil. He was a hemp warrior who served on the Vote Hemp board and fought side by side against DEA when they attacked the industry in 2001.” —David Bronner
Mike and I lost our dear friend Erik Rothenberg to a long battle with lymphoma. Erik, you were right about the best rock song lyric. And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. You took a lot of love with you my friend. Rest In Peace.
This is me and Erik Rothenberg back in December. I didn’t know it would be the last time I saw him.
Erik passed away yesterday after a long battle with Lymphoma. He died peacefully.
There’s a Zoom memorial being planned by Kevin Goldberg for the week of July 13th. I’ll share details when I get them.
I met Erik in 4th grade, he was one of the first friends I had made in California when my family moved here.
We went to different elementary schools but the same temple and hebrew school on Mondays Wednesdays and Sundays. So for several years we saw each other 3 days a week and were inseparable when we were together.
We used to get in trouble laughing in class, and even more trouble when we’d get kicked out of class. Then we’d go exploring in the synagogue building where kids weren’t supposed to go and invariably get caught and then sent BACK to class, where they realized we could cause the least amount of trouble.
After our Bar Mitzvahs in 7th grade, we didn’t see each other again. We were at different high schools, it would be years before we could drive, and there was no facetime or anything like that, and if you were alive back then you know it wasn’t so easy to maintain long distance friendships especially at a young age.
During the summer before college, I got a funny message on my answering machine (way before “voicemail” was invented)… “Hey Evan, blast from the past, remember me, Erik Rothenberg, from hebrew school?”
Well turns out, Erik and I both landed at the University of Pennsylvania and would be going to college together!
In college, we did a LOT of mushrooms together.
The first time, in our freshman dorms (he was in my dorm room at the time) the shrooms started coming on, and for the next 2 hours non-stop, “Roth” as I called him, was going, “I’m SHROOOOOOOOOOMINNNNNNG!!!!!!” over and over again, like a siren…. “I’m Shrrrrooooooomminnnnngg!” he’d be going, louder and louder, it was wild!
He was like a real life walking cartoon character.
Erik was a visionary and we used to spend countless hours talking about life, physics, spirituality, God, the Universe, ecology, the environment, humanity, all the big concepts.
He wanted to solve the world’s problems, and devoted much of his life to his URSULA project.
URSULA attempted to assign a “true cost” and “true value” to literally everything under the sun that could be commoditized, taking into account the waste cycles, the pollution, the re-usability or lack thereof, the sourcing of a product, how it’s packaged, what good does it serve humanity, etc etc.
Erik’s goal with URSULA was to replace money and allow everyone to know “what the true cost” of a product or service is, and therefore, how much it should be worth.
Those were the types of lofty goals and visions Erik had and maintained for his life.
As his conditioned worsened physically he maintained a positive spirit all the time, always looking at the upside and what was possible.
He was however increasingly frustrated with his lack of mobility and inability to care for himself towards the end.
Erik and I smoked so much weed together, it is a crime we never went into business legal or otherwise, because you’re supposed to make money doing what you love most, and what Erik loved most, was smoking herb.
He was the first guy to bring me “blueberry” cannabis, and the irony is I became a professional cannabis consultant for several years and know more about cannabis strains now than the average cannabis user, but at the time I thought he was full of crap.
“Sure!” I’d say.. “Blueberry… okay whatever you wanna call it.” He’d say, “No, Ev, it’s literally called Blueberry, the strain.” “OK bud,” I’d say, “whatever you say.” and we’d smoke it and laugh for hours. Of course, he was right.
Later he would introduce me to one of the classic strains, “Jack Herer.” Erik actually met Jack Herer, it was one of the highlights of his life.
There’s no way to properly eulogize Erik, his spirit was indomitable and will be soaring eternal.
Blessings to his family, friends, and loved ones.
Erik’s mom asks that if you knew Erik or are inspired by his story, please do something kind for the Earth, for the ecology, or for another human being. Do not send flowers (he hated the waste and excess of it). Whatever you offer up to spirit let it be between you and Erik and the Universe/Multiverse.
I LOVE YOU ERIK! YOU WILL LIVE ON IN MY HEART.
More details have not been released about this death, and actual death age and date are yet to confirmed by us. We are still working on getting more details about the death, as family statement on the death is yet to be released.