Todd Alan Silber died of a heart attack in his Greensboro home on Monday. He was 63.

Certified by North Carolina as a peer support specialist, he loved his work helping people learn skills to manage their lives. He started with Easter Seals, and then worked with Envisions of Life, which is closing the office for his funeral and offering counseling to his clients to help them manage his loss.

Class valedictorian and soccer powerhouse at Springfield High School in Illinois, Todd majored in Biological Sciences in college, with an eye toward medical school. He starred on his college soccer team and even earned a tryout with a professional team. Then everything changed with a diagnosis of schizophrenia that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Even so, he managed to return to and graduate (B.A., with General Honors) from the University of Chicago.

Todd’s lifelong tenacity, his family, coworkers, clients, and dogs--along with medication--all helped him achieve a quality of life that had seemed quite out of reach for a very long time. He was a kind, good man who made a real difference to all he touched.

Todd graduated from a local IT program and earned several certifications in this field. He volunteered with Handy Capable Network, which gave people with disabilities an opportunity to refurbish computers for donation, repairing and restoring computers himself and training others to do the same. Greensboro News and Record named him Volunteer of the Week for this work.

Proud of his home, Todd never hesitated to dive into YouTube videos to learn new DIY skills. He loved surveying his domain over a cup of coffee, the trees out back and the living room arranged just the way he liked it. He was a diehard Cubs fan and avid card player who loved to win--Saturday afternoons with his mother and sister, and Sunday afternoons since Covid times over Zoom with the whole family. Oh Hell was his favorite game; he also played bridge online. He had a ready wit, delighting us often with clever quips and zingers.

Todd looked forward, months in advance, to our family’s annual vacations in a sunny clime. He loved fishing, and cooking the old family recipes for us: bbq chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, Nana’s chicken soup. Todd took up the guitar in recent years, with weekly lessons; in March, he played and sang Happy Birthday to our mother on her 95th.

Todd was predeceased by his father David and his dog Scraps. Grieving his loss now are his mother Eileen and sister Cathy (both of Greensboro); sister Jane (London); brother Neil and wife Mary (Lincolnwood, IL) and their daughters Kate (Anchorage, AK) and Emily (Lincolnwood). His dog Belle is going to a good home.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his name to support scholarships for peer support specialist trainees, at this link: https://everloved.com/life-of….

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