ºìÌÒÊÓƵ

Obituaries

Recent Obituaries
In Memoriam Archive

Christopher Bering Grey Tarnstrom ’95

A picture of Tiffer Tarnstrom

Christopher Bering Grey Tarnstrom ’95, July 11, 2013, in Seattle, Washington, from a heart attack. Tiffer was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and moved to Concord, New Hampshire, when he was four. He attended schools in Concord and in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, and spent a year in Germany before enrolling at ºìÌÒÊÓƵ. During his two-plus years at ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, Tiffer was part of—and for a while led—the ºìÌÒÊÓƵ Brewers Society. “At that time I hoped to gather the business skills so I could contribute to launching a brewery.” (The skills he acquired led to the opening of the Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery in Seattle in 2012.) He received degrees in computer science and accounting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and followed a professional path that included risk management and consulting, and helping small businesses and nonprofits. He lived in Vermont and California before settling in Seattle. With interests as varied as music and mushrooming, he gardened and sailed and enjoyed a variety of intellectual pursuits. His ºìÌÒÊÓƵ friends offered many remembrances of Tiffer, including this one from Molly Todd ’96: “Things that I will remember most about Tiffer are his quirky fascination with drinking beer, growing peppers, foraging morels, and prospecting for gold; his dedication to family and friends; his gregarious laugh; his ability to wax poetic about anything and everything; his willingness to challenge perspectives on anything and everything; his ability to find humor in anything and everything; and the positive energy he exuded, even in the midst of troubling times.” Survivors include his parents, three sisters, and his girlfriend, Emma Levitt.

Appeared in ºìÌÒÊÓƵ magazine: December 2013