I posted this at the SFAS-related email list "Detritus" in a slightly different format.
Jonathan Cobb was the first SFAS member I got to know when I joined the club. Whether he was serving refreshments at hospitality, auctioning a bag of black veil tail angels (his favorites) judging the bowl show, or setting up the stands for the Annual Show in Tanforan, you could count on Jonathan to pitch in.
I don't think Jonathan--JP to his friends--was ever happier than when he was banging out Christmas carols on that old piano at the Morrison Auditorium. He loved entertaining the junior members backstage during the program, JP was just a big kid at heart. Jonathan gave generously of his time, and he was richly rewarded by the sense of community at SFAS events. The SFAS was more than a club to Jonathan, it was family.
And like most families, we have our spats. Jonathan could be prickly, irascible and stubborn, but he was our JP and we loved him just the way he was.
Outside the aquarium hobby, Jonathan was a skilled and knowledgeable collector of antiquities--from Shang dynasty vases, to pre-Columbian Aztec figures, to Persian rugs, to carved 15th Century Italian Renaissance angels. He loved gardens and gardening, music and food, wrestling and rowing, just a few of the many eclectic interests that made him the fascinating person he was. I am proud to have known him as a friend.
So, the next time you bid on a bag of black veil tail angels, pay a visit to the Asian Art museum, or sing a Christmas carol remember JP.