Richard Kavich-Sharon was a good friend. The best kind, actually. The kind who, upon getting no answer at his friend’s house, assumed that meant his friend’s wife went into labor, and that his friend was sitting alone — overwhelmed and anxious — in a hospital waiting room.
“Richard walks in, with a big smile and gives me a hug,” said Joe Behar. “I didn’t tell anybody I was there, but he figured it out. And he found out which waiting room I was in. He said, ‘I’ll keep you company. We’ll get through this together.'”
Behar told that story during a eulogy at his friend’s funeral, held Aug. 24. Kavich, a native of San Francisco, died of pancreatic cancer in his Redwood City home Aug. 21.
“He was incredibly good and very giving of himself,” said Doris Kavich, Richard’s wife of 52 years. “He treated people with such dignity and respect.”
That attitude served him well in both his personal and professional life, Doris said.
As a psychologist at numerous Bay Area hospitals, Kavich-Sharon was considered a pioneer for his research and work in human sexuality, helping people experiencing sexual dysfunction because of a heart attack, cancer, diabetes or other conditions. He also consulted for the Palo Alto VA Spinal Cord Injury Unit, helping Vietnam vets recover their sexuality.
“He was somebody who liked to help people,” said his son, Bruce Kavich. The two of them were close. They met weekly for lunch, often at a café at the San Carlos airport, enjoying each other’s company and watching the planes’ take-offs and landings.
Kavich-Sharon loved the ocean. He enthusiastically traveled, people-watching everywhere he went. If he and Doris went to Vegas, he observed people at the casinos, leaving the gambling to his wife.
The 73-year-old man loved his children and grandchildren. Even when he got sick, even when he felt old, he always played with them like he was a child.
It wasn’t unusual for Kavich-Sharon to set up miniature military vehicles and soldiers, and play an elaborate, lengthy game with his grandchildren, rolling on the floor with them.
“My dad was the most compassionate and tender person I’ve ever known,” Bruce said.
Kavich-Sharon balanced his inner child with study. His television was often tuned to the History and Discovery channels, but he also loved movies, and especially going to the movie theater. He wrote often, publishing two books and numerous journal articles. He attended lectures at the Commonwealth Club. A drummer and pianist, he often went to the symphony. He read all the time.
“He always wanted to learn, he never tired of learning,” Doris said. When she suggested international travel, he often responded by “saying he could get there through books,” she added.
Kavich-Sharon and his wife belonged to Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame. Even though he was admittedly an atheist, Judaism was important to him.
He was active in community affairs as past president of Skyline/Unity Lodge B’nai Brith, past board member of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council and the American Friends of Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
He was also a founding member of the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry and a longtime board member of the Anti-Defamation League.
“A lot of intellectuals I’ve met are dry, emotionally detached, but Richard wasn’t like that,” Behar said. “He was a rare breed — somebody who was both intellectual and warm.”
Kavich-Sharon is survived by his wife, Doris, daughter Tamar and son Bruce, and three grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Peninsula Temple Sholom or the American Cancer Society.