Eric Gelman, 32: aspiring actor stabbed during botched robbery
Garrett
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/obituaries/11480525.htm
ERIC GELMAN
Actor from Kendall is killed in Los Angeles
BY IDY FERNANDEZ of the Miami Herald
Aspiring character actor Eric Gelman of Kendall was stabbed and killed
April 17 during a botched robbery as he walked to his car after work in
Wilshire, a posh neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Gelman, who moved to Los Angeles two years ago to jump-start his career
and who appeared twice in the crime series Monk, was 32.
"What would continually strike me whenever I saw him perform was how
comfortable he seemed to be onstage," said his mother, Lynn Gelman. "He
was capable of picking up any accent and constantly kept us laughing
with his Robin Williams-like energy."
Born in Indianapolis on July 10, 1972, Gelman and his family moved to
Miami in 1979. He graduated from Miami Killian Senior High School in
1990, his mother said. He then went to Goucher College in Maryland,
where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1995 and was turned onto acting
by chance, she said, while fulfilling a fine-arts credit.
Gelman performed in college plays and moved to New York in 1996 to
pursue his dream of becoming a "journeyman actor" -- one who was
recognized from commercials and supporting movie roles but not by name,
his mother said.
In New York, Gelman appeared in several commercials and independent
plays but moved to Los Angeles two years ago, where he felt he had a
better chance for work.
While waiting tables there, a patron asked him if he was an actor and
offered him a spot on Monk as a paparazzi photographer.
A few months later, Gelman was asked to make a second appearance on the
show as the same photographer, his mother said.
"He received a credit line that allowed him to enroll in the Screen
Actors Guild, so he was very excited about the whole thing," Gelman
said of her son's experience on the show.
Whether he was onstage or in front of the camera, Gelman never stopped
acting, she said.
"He was such a sweet, caring and sensitive young man," his mother
added. "He was just one of the good ones."
In addition to his mother, Gelman is survived by his father, Richard
Gelman, sister Jaimie Gelman of New Orleans and grandparents Ada and
Howard Harnik.
Services were held.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Eric Gelman Memorial Fund at
Miami Children's Hospital Foundation, 3000 SW 62nd Ave., Miami, or to
the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, 5757 Wilshire Blvd., Seventh floor,
Los Angeles, CA 90036.
Garrett
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-waiter21apr21,1,999149.story
Man Is Sought in the Fatal Stabbing of Waiter in Fairfax District
The victim had just completed his shift when the apparent street
robbery occurred.
By Andrew Blankstein
Times Staff Writer
April 21, 2005
Los Angeles police have released a composite sketch of a man suspected
of fatally stabbing a waiter in an apparent street robbery in the
Fairfax district.
Eric Gelman, 32, had ended his shift at the nearby Marmalade Cafe in
the Farmers Market and was walking to his car in the 7900 block of West
1st Street about 10 p.m. Sunday when he was stabbed in the back,
authorities said.
Gelman was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center a short time
later.
The aspiring actor had moved to Los Angeles from Florida two years ago
to begin a career in the entertainment industry. His efforts were just
beginning to bear fruit. He made a guest appearance in February as a
paparazzi photographer in "Monk," the USA Network comedy about a
detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Gelman was alone when he was killed in front of an apartment complex
about a block and a half from the Marmalade Cafe. The Farmers Market
charges $5 a day to park in the market's lot, said Selwyn Yossiowitz,
owner of Marmalade Restaurants. Waiters and waitresses often park on
the street.
Gelman had walked the same route many times, escorting colleagues to
their cars, Yossiowitz said.
The restaurant's owner said he has parked on the street and considered
the neighborhood safe. Police concurred.
Through April 16, the LAPD reported five killings in the Wilshire
Division, six fewer than in 2004. Violent crime in the area is down 30%
in 2005, compared with the same period last year.
Colleagues described Gelman as outgoing, kind and generous.
"He was popular with the customers, and the employees loved him,"
Yossiowitz said. "It was one of those wrong-time, wrong-place things.
We are shocked."
Investigators described the killer as a bearded man in his mid- to late
30s who wore dark clothing and a cap with a short bill. Wilshire-area
Capt. Richard Wemmer said his detectives believe robbery was the motive
for the killing.
Witnesses were able to provide descriptions to help detectives put
together the composite drawing, Wemmer added.
"We're hoping somebody saw something that can help us out," Wemmer
said.