Stephen Sohmer, age 82, passed away on November 21, 2022, in Riverdale, Bronx, New York. Mr. Sohmer enjoyed a rich life of faith, learning, friendship, and hope in New York City. He left the city for an extended time only twice: for undergraduate studies with the acclaimed faculty and Great Books program at St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland (BA, 1963), and to serve the nation proudly in the U.S. Army (1966-68, particularly in Vietnam with a combat engineer battalion). He returned to formal studies at the New School for Social Research, earning his MA in Political Science and all-but-completing the PhD. In the mid-1970s, he shifted paths. The appeal of academia faded, as he chose instead to seek a career that would allow him to chart his own course of private reading, enjoyment of the finer arts, time spent with friends, and ever-deepening devotion to God through his faith. He became a court reporter (also, for several years, co-owning and operating a gourmet cuisine catering service). These labors demanded his characteristic energy and discipline, but provided the freedom he sought to conduct his life deliberately, with a view to high things, and no presumption.
For over 40 years, Mr. Sohmer worked tirelessly at his craft, and lived an earnest, joyful life. Away from courts’painstaking work, his companions became ancient and modern political and literary classics, and luminous music and performances. Political-moral inquiry – naming and cultivating the opinions needed for healthy private-civic life – was a staple, befitting his thoughtful patriotism. All such undertakings were pursued with close friends, whom Mr. Sohmer cherished and who prized his company over many decades. They joyed in hisspirit and heart and insight, his care and courage, his feeling and honesty, his genuineness. He joyed in long discussions, movingdifficult questions to shared understanding. Those privileged to know Mr. Sohmer were struck by his extraordinary caringduring conversation, as he listened intensively to ensure hearingcompanions’ comments exactly, always humble of his own opinions. A man of remarkable charity; a man of remarkable insight and spirit.
Anchoring everything was Mr. Sohmer’s faith. Always deeply thankful for his Jewish patrimony and heritage, he came to Christ in college, continuing the faith of his fathers seen anew as had been learned on the road to Emmaus [Luke 24:13-35]. He read the Bible daily – poring over both Testaments. Sifting.Burning off slag and dross. Mr. Sohmer found his way on the long road, where his heart burned as he leaned into each day however far spent. He dwelled often in his last years on the Prophets.
Mr. Sohmer’s charity and optimism shone. Underlying each were profound faith and study. Mr. Sohmer was truly a man of God, a man of learning, a gentleman in the best sense.
Stephen Sohmer was born November 18, 1940, in Manhattan. His father Abraham (Abe) Sohmer and mother Blooma (Billie, nee Himmelstein) Squadra preceded him in death, as did his loving cousin Sandra Lansky (neeHimmelstein), and dear friends Irene Scheuer and Maurice Auerbach. He will be deeply missed by his loving cousin Richard Lansky and family, who cared so well for him in his last years, by his beloved fellow congregants of the Messiah’s Reformed Fellowship church he cherished and helped raise upfrom its founding (its first charter member), and by old friends –all, cheered by his glad soul from those brimming, early days and across 60 graced and grateful years. Requiescat in pace, dear Stephen.
Arrangements were under Riverdale-on-Hudson Funeral Home, Bronx, New York, with interment – presided over at graveside by Pastor Paul T. Murphy of his church – on November 25, 2022, close to his mother, at Mount Ararat Cemetery, Lindenhurst, New York. A separate memorial service with family and friends will be convened at a later date.