Braverman, Robert (Bob)

We are humbled and grieved by the swift passing of farmer and friend, Robert (Bob) Braverman, 54, of Iowa City. Services will held Friday, August 5, at 3 p.m. at Agudas Achim Congregation in Iowa City.

Firstborn child of Mace and June Braverman and firstborn grandchild of two sets of loving grandparents, Bob was a cherished boy with an innate ability to inspire and delight others. A high school trip to Guatemala with his father ignited in him an interest in organic farming that endured throughout his too short life. He attended the University of Kansas before moving to Santa Barbara, Calif., in the spring of 1977. He met his future wife, Kathy Chapman while working in a nursing home, they married in 1978 and moved to Olympia, Wash., where Bob attended the Evergreen State College and studied organic farming. In 1982, the couple returned to Iowa City, to give birth to Friendly Farm and subsequently, their son David, now 26, also of Iowa City. Though they divorced in 1994, they remained devoted friends.

For three decades Bob cultivated crops on a 20-acre plot of land owned by the Braverman family. Believing the soil was our most valuable commodity, he nurtured his land with great consciousness and passion. His dynamic use of cover crops, crop rotation and compost, and his constant pursuit of plant varieties most suitable for our local conditions and climate brought forth an abundant supply of the highest quality vegetables, fruits and flowers. He was a pioneer in the “organic” and “local food” movement and only supplied restaurants and grocery stores within 10 miles of the farm.

Friendly Farm was certified organic until federal regulations made the process too cumbersome for his small operation, but Bob continued his rigorous organic practices, happy to receive anyone interested in his growing methods and share the details of his operation. In this grass roots way, he educated many community members on the necessity and benefits of sustainable agriculture.

But growing wholesome food was not enough for Bob. The same generosity he coaxed from the earth, he shared with friends and family. He loved to cook and he loved to feed people. His creative flair and nurturing spirit fed many in body and soul. He had a special affinity for those in crisis, even strangers, and often went out of his way to prepare a special meal or drop off a bouquet of flowers to ease their burdens. His service was his devotion to “his people,” sometimes with the sacrifice of himself. Bob was unselfish, his unselfishness representative of his greatest strength: love. Every year his produce symbolized his desire to give Iowa City his best. Bob's perfection had blemishes, imperfect like cracks on a tomato, but the fruits of his labor were sweet. He cultivated a community of honest friends and close peers who desired to see past minute imperfections to the large, humbling, symbolic whole, where honesty matters, sincerity is key and dissatisfaction exists only as a desire to have done more. His legacy endures through his mitzvahs (good deeds), his farm one of his greatest gifts to our community.

Bob passed peacefully on August 1, 2011, in the company of family and friends. His community is vast and his survivors are many. Among them are his son, David Braverman; life partner, Sarah Neary; former wife, Kathy Braverman; parents, Mace Braverman and June Braverman; and siblings, Robyn, Melanie and Tom Braverman and Eric Tucker. The circle extends to include many uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, stepfamily members and a community as varied and vibrant as the plants on Friendly Farm. Each held a precious place in him, as his memory is held in them all now.