Honorary GEDS Member David Stieber 12 June 1937- 16 October 2023

I was very saddened to learn that David Stieber had succumbed to his illness on Monday 16 October.

I have known David for 50 years during which time he was very active with both GEDS and GAOS except for 2 years in the late 80s when he was working in the USA.

He served on the committee as treasurer in the 70s and when I first took on the role of GEDS treasurer in 2008 he was one of the GEDS auditors. His eagle eye which spotted any inconsistency was reassuring to someone new to the job, and the speed at which he added up a column of figures always amazed me. He was an auditor from 2002-2014.

The first play that David acted in with GEDS was The Right Honorable Gentleman in 1969, he subsequently offered it as a playreading  50 years later in 2019.  Over the years he performed in 14 plays, his one proviso being that he had no more than 11 lines to deliver. The frequency with which he seems to land some sort of ecclesiastical role for either GEDS or GAOS earned him the nickname The Rev. Stieber.

Other plays in which he had a role are:

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1972)

Twelfth Night (1973)

Lysistrata (1973)

The Merchant of Venice (1974)

Hotel Paradiso (1976)

Richard III (1978)

Habeas Corpus (1984)

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1992)

Prelude to a Kiss (1999)

Hadrian VII (2002)

The Real Inspector Hound (2004)

A View From the Bridge (2011)

As You Like It (2012)

He also appeared in many GAOS productions. He was a great fan of Gilbert and Sullivan and regularly attended the G & S festival in the UK.

David was always happy to take on the role of House Manager which he did for numerous GEDS shows, looking very dapper in this dinner suit, he also organized a number of playreadings over the years and always supported the society’s social functions.

Professionally David worked as an accountant, a highly sought after one by all accounts as he was employed in a new job when well over 80 years old.

He was a bon viveur, liked good food and wine, though drank very moderately himself, and loved a good curry. He was a first-class bridge player, quite an authority on all things football, an avid supporter of FC Bournemouth and an excellent travel agent, who in the past arranged week-end wine tasting trips to various parts of France for his friends having done a thought recce beforehand.

A good long-standing friend who will be greatly missed.

Jane Easton

I have known David for the duration of my time in Geneva (over 50 years bar one break 1975-1978). The inimitable David Stieber!  A quirky sense of humour and erratic driving, recalling one unforgettable wine tasting trip to Burgundy in his old Citroen, the cigar shaped model that sort of inflates each time you set off. At each new venue on our tour I had to get aspirins and water to combat sea sickness. David was and will remain a part of the very  core of the GEDS expat life.  I trust he will be toasting us down below with fellow loved members Ted Talbot and Richard Powell. David will be sadly missed.

Mary Ahern

David, dear friend for over fifty years, played many roles; active in all things theatre, wonderful wine-tasting weekends so carefully organised for a group of friends and often hilarious accounts of his many travels. His wit was as quick as his arithmetic.

Although we left Geneva for London in 1991 we kept up long conversations on face-time, after he got the hang of it. He never failed to call on his visits to London to see his brother, Robin. So many meals over the years, often Indian of course. Times to remember with joy; fortunate indeed to have known him and sadness at our loss.

Jean Navassardian