gerb-o-matic : Tim J. Gerberich

Timothy J. Gerberich
May 21, 1957 - February 7, 2005

In 1981 my older brother Tim suffered a massive head injury in a car accident. He was with four friends when the driver, fumbling for a cassette tape, hit a bridge railing. The car was impaled, and the railing impaled my brother, who was the only one injured in the crash. He was 22 years old. The injuries to his head were so vast, that neurosurgeons had to remove almost half of his left-brain. They weren't very optimistic about the quality of life.

For the next 23 years, Tim loved and laughed, leaving the doctors baffled and impressed. After several reconstructive surgeries and years of debilitating effects, Tim moved back to the Iowa home we grew up in, and was cared for by my amazing parents.

Tim perpetually inspires my life and art. He was a born creator and became an artist loaded with innovation and charisma. He was earning a master's degree at Cal Arts when the accident occurred. The reproductions of Tim's work before his head injuries illustrate his promising career.

The trauma to his left brain devastated many of the motor activities to his right side, but Tim triumphed, continuing to make art using his left hand.