Tributes

Alan Seeman passed away on August 18, 2024 following a short illness. He was an incredible husband, dad, son, brother, uncle and friend to so many, and touched countless people during his rich and all too short life. For Alan, family was everything, and there was quite literally nothing he wouldn’t do for the people he loved. He was never afraid to stand up for what was right, even if that wasn’t the popular thing; He fought fiercely for what he believed in; And he was always the first to come to the rescue for someone in need – Whether it was his best friend, or someone he barely knew – Never for the praise or the accolades, but because he so deeply believed in doing good. Those who were lucky enough to call Alan a friend know that to try to fit his life into a template is all but impossible – Alan, in every way imaginable, broke the mold. Born on June 2, 1945 in New York to Norman and Clarice Franklin Seeman, Alan was forever a New Yorker at heart. For most of his life if he wasn’t in a suit, you would find him in an old Yankees cap, an homage both to the sport he played his entire childhood, and to his dad and business partner who he forever called his hero. After Alan’s family moved to San Antonio, Norman and Clarice had their second child, Louis, giving Alan the role of big brother, which he forever cherished. Alan went to Thomas Jefferson High School and played on the American Legion baseball team, before heading to California to attend UC Berkely for a year where he walked onto their baseball team. As a sophomore, Alan transferred to UT Austin because in his words it “sounded more fun.” He graduated from UT with an Accounting degree, and then moved back to the Bay Area to work as a CPA for Price Waterhouse Cooper before joining his dad at his private practice in San Antonio, Norman Seeman and Company, which Alan ran until the end of his life. However, never one to follow the straight and narrow path, Alan took a brief hiatus from his accounting career in the mid-1980s when he and two friends, Joe Cosniac and Arthur Cerna, moved to Manhattan with dreams of bringing TexMex to the Big Apple, opening a taco restaurant in Herald Square called Tacopulco. (Tagline: “Why resort to anything else?”) And while the restaurant was a bit of a bust, during Alan’s time in New York, he began dating Fay Honigblum, a friend of a friend from San Antonio, who was also working in The City, and with whom he would very quickly fall in love. Fay and Alan married on September 6, 1987 and were by each other’s side every day for the rest of his life. A dynamic duo like no other, it was rare to see one without the other, and equally rare to see them without their third musketeer, their daughter Alex, born in 1991. When Alex was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2000, Alan dove headfirst into volunteer work with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (now Breakthrough T1D), a role he poured his entire soul into for over 20 years. While he constantly reminded Alex that there was nothing she couldn’t do because of her disease, he also made it his personal mission to help find a cure in her lifetime. Alan, Fay and Alex had a relationship like no other. In fact, Alan’s mom always called them a sandwich, and their bond was equally that of three best friends as that of parents and a child. Alan was so proud of “his girls,” as he called them, and for them he was their biggest cheerleader, their protector, and even in the bleakest times, their greatest source of laughter. Because as everyone who knew Alan would tell you, he was fiercely funny, sharp as a tack, and no matter what the circumstance, he could make even the most serious person completely break. This was one of his many gifts to those who were lucky enough to be in his presence. Alan will be sorely missed, and the world will be a little less bright without him. But his loving memory will be carried on by his family: Fay and Alex Seeman; Louis and Norma Seeman; Laura, Steve and Rebecca Rothschild; Isaac Seeman; Al and Sylvia Honigblum; Blake, Avery, Audrey, Holden and Henry Honigblum; Trevor, Emily and Reeves Lovelady; Carrie Honigblum and David and Harrison Saling, his beloved dog, Maggie, and his grandcat, Jane. The family would like to offer a special thank you to his amazing care providers, Dr. Robert Schnitzler, Dr. Mark Thornton, Dr. Ronald Drengler, cousin and Dr. Steve Davis, and Vicki Paparelli for their amazing care and support. They’d also like to thank his second family and dedicated co-workers, David Reitblatt, Rachel Childers-Bowden, Janie Perez, Kai-Lin Chang, and Linda Hall. Honorary pallbearers are Jack Avigael, Stanley Blend, Steve Braha, Rob Holliday, Lenny Holzman, Al Honigblum, Blake Honigblum, Rob Kaufman, Les Norton, Rick Norton, Robert Price, David Reitblatt, Larry Rickel, David Saling, Harrison Saling, Isaac Seeman, Louis Seeman, Zev Shanken, Roy Terracina, and Jack Vexler. Memorial contributions may be made to Breakthrough T1D, South Texas chapter ~ https://www2.breakthrought1d.org/site/Donation2?2374.donation=form1&df_id=2374&mfc_pref=T

Tributes

Alan Seeman

June 2, 1945 - August 18, 2024