1999

January 24, to Buzzi: “The annus mirabilis of 1999. The year of my death—I would guess, calmly.”

February, on a copy of a 1938 map of Bucharest, he redraws the streets he knew as a boy, “my past in little streets and houses, all of them now demolished.”

Bucharest street map next to Steinberg’s drawings of his Bucharest neighborhood, found on his desk at the time of his death. Photo by Evelyn Hofer, July 1999. © Estate of Evelyn Hofer.
Bucharest street map next to Steinberg’s drawings of his Bucharest neighborhood, found on his desk at the time of his death. Photo by Evelyn Hofer, July 1999. © Estate of Evelyn Hofer.

February 29–c. March 26, in St. Bart’s with Prudence Crowther.

Early May, diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. As he lies dying in the upstairs bedroom of his New York apartment, Prudence, Aldo Buzzi, Ian Frazier, and Hedda keep vigil, while other friends come and go. He dies on May 12.

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