Gilbert passed away on March 10 from complications from advanced Parkinson's Disease. He was born on July 29, 1940 in San Francisco to Italian immigrant parents. After graduating from Balboa High School and San Francisco State University, Gilbert served in the United States Army for two years, stationed in Germany. During those two years, he also traveled to Denmark, France, and Italy, sightseeing and visiting relatives. After completing his military service, Gilbert returned to San Francisco, where he worked briefly as a realtor and then began a career as a computer programmer, first at NCR and then as an independent businessperson. He retired from that work at age 48, following which he spent two decades taking courses at City College and San Francisco State, principally in theater arts, astronomy, physics, philosophy, and economics. Gilbert had a remarkable curiosity that delighted us. Over the course of his life, Gilbert was variously a runner, an avid theatergoer, a playwright, an actor, a frequent reader of Melville's Moby Dick, and a cinephile – for many years he saw a different movie nearly every day. He was a unique individual who will be missed. Gilbert was predeceased by his parents, Elena (Rebizzo) Accornero and Frank Accornero, and by his brother-in-law, Bruno. He is survived by his sister Norma, his nephew Christopher, his nephew Adrian and Adrian's husband Timothy , and cousins in the Bay Area, Reno, France, and Italy. Christopher and Adrian are deeply grateful to the staff of Sunrise of Burlingame, Amicare Services, and Sutter Health Hospice Services for their attentive care of Gilbert over many years, and are especially appreciative of his principal caregiver Jerome Asuncion.

Published by San Francisco Chronicle on Mar. 13, 2022.