Two months have passed, and Josh is in my thoughts and feelings every day - I haven’t been able to write here- since I still feel a hundred impulses a day to call or text or give energy to all the dreams and plans he had - and receive the same boundless energy from him. 

To love a friend, is a gift to love unconditionally - without judgement or agenda - instead , - support, care, curiosity and joy - that someone else walks this earth you can create dreams and realities with - and enjoy and support each others evolution over time …

I miss Josh everyday. I know all his friends and loved ones do, too - and I send all the love he shared with me with all of you. …. A big loving Josh loop ✨

I still hear him … still in the midst of all the conversations we were having - still need his point of view, humor and insight… still draw upon the gift he was in my life. 

There will be stories another time, cause my god, he loved stories… and was damn gifted at bringing them to life…

But for today - I’m just loving his realness. 

Forever changed, challenged and made better for his presence. 

I’m glad I told him, and thanked him all the time, which he grew impatient with :) (“c’mon joooan”)  but I always wanted him to know - how much he gave and how much it means.  

Always gonna love and thank you, dear Josh. 

So sorry to learn of Josh’s passing. I have fond memories of him playing a key part in ASL’s Guys & Dolls. His subtle touches made his hoodlum character lovable.  Even in high school he was a kind and humble man at a time when many of us were trying to out-do each other.

This is devastating news. Josh and I were very good friends at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School and Teaneck High School. He was at my bar mitzvah, we shared a room at an ice-skating camp in New Jersey, and I stayed with him and his family in London in 1972 or '73. We got together a few times while we were in college and a few times when he lived in New York. Then we drifted apart. I was in touch with him about getting together in L.A., where my mother now lives, but our schedules never meshed. I remember Ken and Josh's parents. I am deeply saddened by this news.

From the moment when we first met Josh at the Seattle airport after we had flown from New Brunswick, Canada to be with our daughter who was very ill with cancer, we loved him. Neither my husband and I nor Josh knew each other but he was there to pick us up at the bequest of his dear wife, Kathie. I saw a man who looked as though he was looking for somebody and when we approached him, he broke into a smile and we both realized that he was Josh and he knew we were Alys' parents. He never failed us and even on the car ride and long ferry crossing to Bainbridge Island he made us welcome. We send our love and deep sympathy to Kathie and Jack and we are grateful that we knew Josh and felt happy and comfortable in his presence.

I've been reading these gratefully for weeks, thinking very fondly of Josh, trying to think of something to write and feeling very sad about his not living longer. He was a good one. I love the pictures--thanks, Connie!--and love the sentiments. So glad he had such good friends and family. I wish to be counted among his fervent admirers--and am sorry to be so far away. 

It was Fall 2003 when our son Kellen, and Josh and Kathie's son Jack went to Carpenter Avenue Elementary together, which is where we all first met.  The boys became fast friends, had multiple play dates, shared birthday parties, pool parties and we all engaged in assorted hijinks!  The boys played on the same Studio City soccer team, which I had the honour to coach!  It was all so much great fun spending special times together, and now, reflecting on such wonderful memories.  Jennifer and I look back on those days feeling blessed we got to spend such a special time in life with Josh, Kathie and Jack.  Sending love to all.  Jennifer & Paul

❤️

Josh Kramer changed my life. Circa 1990, we used to play in a weekly poker game and one night I show up depressed because a low-budget film I was making (written by two fellow card players - John Brancato & Mike Ferris) had run out of money. Josh generously introduced me to his boss, Dino De Laurentiis, who bailed us out and then went on to finance my next two films. So it’s no exaggeration to say I wouldn’t have had a career without Josh. Everything everyone has written about him is true — he was sweet, kind, funny and wise, and will be sorely missed. My heartfelt condolences to Kathie and Jack.  

A concert pianist who helped right the Beastie Boys tourbus one night in Paris when rabid fans were tipping it over; a patient negotiator who cried reading J.D. Salinger. His contradictions made him. My life changed course when I met Josh. He convinced me to leave an assistant job in NYC government for a made up job at Dino and then convinced me to stay in the business every time I tried to get out. His brilliance was beyond my capacity to comprehend but I did clock that he was assembling a band of friends - many he'd turned into co-workers to keep close - for life. I was lucky to be enlisted. Four decades has not been enough time with Josh and it’s excruciating to contemplate letting go of his love and laugh-giving presence.

Having the fortunate privilege of becoming Josh’s housemate with Jordan Hawley at the start of the 8214 Hollywood Blvd journey in 1987 (after Jordie found the house), I joined a permanent journey of adventure, friendship, late night classical piano performances, indulgent food selections, a huge passion for fun, film archives (permanently rented videos), and a steady stream intrigue and amazement as Josh was always crafting another innovation in things he thought to explore and perfect long before any of us knew about such things (the list is quite endless)!

His caring nature, energy, support, humor, compassion, intelligence,  and creativity will always inspire me and all who knew him!!

I met Josh in college at Brown and we continued to overlap for several years after in nyc before he moved to the west coast. A patient, kind and gentle human being, SO SMART! Josh noticed things small and large, he caught nuances. I have a sharp memory of long talks with Josh and Cindy Furlong in her apartment kitchen on College Hill, drinking too many cups of coffee. Far ranging topics. His voice and laugh, his cigarette held and then forgotten as the aah grew so long it fell off.  These talks went on for hours. I think I took his electronic GISP class, which was way out of my ability to comprehend, but was exciting. I remember his patience and willingness to help me complete a piece I was trying to make about whispers. (Thank you Josh!). I remember talks with him about his ideas for large space, conceptual art environments, ideas that mostly remained unbuilt. It rained at graduation and who cares. We (Josh and a few of us) walked where we felt like going, not in step with the class…that is mostly how I remember it. 

Later, a subway ride to Coney Island when he was back for a visit from California. Talking again for hours, getting boracht (one got red and the other green) at a Russian restaurant in the boardwalk. Cold weather, in the afternoon, constantly fending off the waiter who wanted to bring us carafes of vodka. Talking, talking. We were the only people there. 

Being with Josh was always a time of surprising conversation, and a shock of quickly feeling familiar again.

My deep condolences to his family and close friends. Dear Josh! 

In 1991, two years out of college and just starting my career, I worked on a project produced by The Mount/Kramer Company. Josh was the smartest person I’d ever met. I was fascinated by the flexibility and dimensionality of his thinking, the precision of his analyses; and I was totally wowed by how easily he could apply absolute rigor in his daily dealings without ever losing his sense of humor. I followed him around like a duckling – hoping somehow his brilliance would rub off on me. He became a friend, a mentor, a role model - someone I could call for guidance, advice, or just a chat now and again. Ours was an easy connection, and, over time, Josh just felt like family to me. Even when Josh, Kathie and Jack moved to Washington, and our contact grew less frequent, I never felt a break in our bond. I was so fortunate to eventually work for Josh at Amazon and alongside him at Resonance. I had a front row seat to his genius every day. He was a stellar strategist – sensible, fair, thoughtful, tough, sharp and always respectful – even when Hollywood temperatures rose. Always, he led with integrity. Josh was a master at holding opposing ideas in his mind at the same time. He was comfortable resting on the fulcrum between knowing and unknowing - that place where inspiration sparks, creativity thrives, and discoveries are made. He was the best listener I’ve ever known. When he listened, he could hear what you were saying by hearing what you weren’t saying. And from that vaporous space between your words, he would extract a truth from you that you may not even have known yourself. What generosity. There is a little less magic in this world without Josh. I really hope he’s sparkling somewhere else right now.

I’m deeply grateful to have worked with Josh in his early days at Amazon - he was truly salt of the earth. I always smiled when helping Josh - he always made me feel important and worthy of the best. Heartfelt condolences to his family & friends - rest in power, knowing he made a true difference in countless lives.

I am so sorry I am out of town and am unable to attend the memorial.  Josh was an amazing person, brilliant, kind and a loyal and caring friend.  I enjoyed many professional conversations  with Josh that approached Talmudic levels of nuance and precision.  I will miss him very much.

Josh and I were friends for almost 50 years. He helped me so many times, in so many ways, always with his kindness, brilliance and humor. I will miss him greatly.

One of the smartest people I ever met, and also one of the kindest.  A wonderful, devoted father and husband,  Josh was a bona fide mensch.  He will be sorely missed.

Hello Josh. 

I wish I had a photo of you and I. I wish I knew you played the piano. All I really knew about you was that you had a son you loved dearly. I knew because you talked about him so often and with such love. I suspect he is without words at the moment. 

I was shocked when I heard you had passed. I was just on the phone with you a just a few days before. It seemed almost unbelievable to me that you would no longer be among us. I’d like to tell you now what I hadn’t thought to share in the past. I liked you from the first time we meet at Amazon. It wasn’t your position there that made me curious or interested, but rather your humanity. It was evident in everything you did. Your quiet concern and kindness toward others was not lost on me and I doubt very much it was lost on others. It’s rare, as you know, to carry friendships forward after a project is completed. Somehow we remained friends and for that I am grateful. 

I hope all goes along ok for you now. I hope you’re at peace, whatever that means. And god bless your son. He will need you, but he’ll be ok. Not to worry. 

That’s all I have to say. You were a good man Josh and in the end perhaps there is no higher compliment. 

As Ever, your friend Declan 

❤️

Josh was my friend for almost 50 years. From freshman year at Brown, through years in New York, LA, and on into the Amazon/Bainbridge period. He was a magical person who left me with so many fond, funny memories, one of which I’ll share here: We were in New York, a few years after college. Josh had recently moved to an apartment in Little Italy, and somehow, for some reason, acquired a parakeet. He was determined to train the uncaged bird to perch upon his finger. I visited one evening for a demonstration. Josh stood statue-like in the middle of his kitchen, index-finger held parallel to his chest, while the bird fluttered maniacally from room to room. When it arrived in the kitchen Josh’s face lit up, though he scarcely moved. Nor did I, following Josh’s instruction to remain silent and still. The budgie circled, and circled, and circled, and finally landed… right on top of Josh’s head!

Rest well, my friend. The world is a lesser place without you.