Herbert Meyer Shapiro

On October 11th, 2022 Herbert Shapiro passed away at age 91. Herb was born on January 29,1931 in Boston, Mass to Jack and Ruth Shapiro. Growing up he enjoyed working in his father's furniture store reupholstering furniture. While still in his teens he became a successful interior designer. This skill and talent paid for his college education and became a lifelong interest and hobby. He attended Boston Latin School and then Tufts from 1948 - 1951 majoring in Business Law. While at Tufts, he was on the wrestling team and a member of Phi Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Upon graduation from Tufts, Herb served in the Military in Austria and Germany where he taught college history courses to Army Officers. After the military, he went to Boston University Law School where he received his LLB in 1957.

In 1957 Herb married his former spouse, Phyllis Gold, and settled down in New Jersey. Together they raised three children, Dana, Marc and Jeffrey. This same year, he began to work for Bell Labs as a Patent Attorney. In the early years at the Labs Herb worked with William Shockley patenting technology in semiconductor transistor technology which created a revolution of electronics that enabled smaller and smaller devices to go into computers. When Herb retired from the Labs, he continued his career in the private sector. He was also an inventor on his own right having numerous patents and inventions of his own. He worked with many corporations and enjoyed working with startups and mentoring young inventors on the East and then the West Coast. He never ceased to amaze his colleagues with his special ability hone in on and to capture the essence of an invention. Eventually, he began commuting to California and Arizona on a regular basis where his client base kept growing. On one of his California trips to Orange County in 1989, he met Cheryl Baker and six years later they were married. Herb and Cheryl had a wonderful life together in California traveling, enjoying family and friends, the theater, music and their precious pets.

Herb touched countless lives with his kindness, brilliance and his incredible sense of humor and wit. He cared deeply about the state of the world and always kept up with the news, read voraciously and loved life even when it got tough. He loved his wife, Cheryl, his three children, Dana, Marc and Jeff and his grandchildren dearly and they loved him back.

Herb is survived by his wife, Cheryl Baker, his three children Dana Shapiro, Marc Shapiro and Jeffrey Shapiro, his daughter-in-laws Didi Shapiro and Debbie Shapiro, his grandchildren Kyle and Jared Shapiro and Sarah and Ben Moebius, his brother Edward Shapiro and his former spouse Phyllis Gold Shapiro. He is predeceased by his brother Leon Shapiro and parents Jack and Ruth Shapiro.

The family requests that any donations you may wish to make in Herb's memory be made to:

The Parkinson's Foundation or to Pet Project Foundation, San Clemente, CA.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.fairhavenmemorial.com for the Shapiro family.