Friends remember Walter Rich - Holocaust survivor, wine lover, and Philly's bon vivant

For Philadelphia's Walter Rich, wine and food were the only teachers, guides through which he saw the world and learned to enjoy its many pleasures.

After escaping a Nazi concentration camp at age 12, Mr. Rich resolved to spend every day as if it were his last — a promise his friends and loved ones said transformed him into a larger-than-life character who ate, drank, loved, and lived with abandon.

Mr. Rich, 89, a longtime resident of Center City, was in his favorite hotel in Biarritz, France, when he died Aug. 29 after injuring himself in a fall. He died without suffering, said his longtime partner, Ellen Steiner. Mr. Rich had been vacationing there with friends, as he did each year.

Many knew Mr. Rich as the neighborhood's bon vivant, a charming, eccentric raconteur who spent decades honing his knowledge of wine, particularly Bordeaux, and imparting that wisdom to others. An exuberant, jovial figure who always spoke his mind, Mr. Rich relished fine food and traveled to Europe several times a year with Steiner, his partner of  40 years.

He never allowed his traumatic early years, in which his father was murdered by Nazis and Mr. Rich fled a work camp, to poison his rose-colored outlook, Steiner said.

"For him it became a motivating factor," said Steiner, a longtime Center City real estate broker. "He always said living well is the best revenge. He'd survived an attempt to kill him, and after that he didn't focus on slights or resentments."

Born in 1928 in western Germany, Mr. Rich was 5 years old when the Nazis rose to power. Jewish children were forbidden to attend public school, and so Mr. Rich was tutored and home-schooled, said Michael Bloom, a Philadelphia attorney and Mr. Rich's friend for almost 30 years. Mr. Rich's father, a successful manufacturer, gradually lost everything: the family's home, their wealth, and eventually their freedom.

Mr. Rich and his parents were taken to a detention camp in France, where he mounted an astonishing escape by sea, using a canoe he built and rowing his way to Lyon, Bloom said. After that, Mr. Rich loved all things French, and renounced all aspects of German culture.

His mother eventually was granted release from the camp, and the two traveled to Philadelphia with help from relatives who had settled there. Mr. Rich's father was killed at Auschwitz, Bloom said.

In America, Mr. Rich learned English and worked whatever odd jobs he could find. As a young man, he was hired by an advertising agency that allowed him to design cover art for albums, including some by Chubby Checker. As soon as he began to make a living wage, he devoted his extra pennies to weekend train rides to New York, where he would enjoy lunch at a French restaurant with a bottle of wine.

"He wasn't thinking about saving his money for the future," Steiner said. "He wanted to have foie gras!"

Mr. Rich dabbled in a number of occupations over the years, and even tried his hand at inventing. He was proudest of designing a plastic hook used for selling socks, Steiner said. He started a milling company that built the interiors of retail stores around the country, which he eventually sold.

Mr. Rich was separated from his second wife when he met Steiner, who was divorced. The two were seated next to each other at a wine dinner, and the attraction was immediate.

"We had a passion for food and wine that became a mainstay of our relationship," she said. "It was a big part of our life together."

They embarked on a romance that would take them all over Europe many times over in search of the greatest meals and bottles, often eating, drinking, driving, and napping their way through France. By the time of Mr. Rich's death, they had settled into a routine that took them to Biarritz every August.

Mr. Rich took pride in saying that he had no formal education. He was a voracious reader who did the New York Times crossword puzzle up until his death — in ink. In 2013, he self-published 500 copies of an encyclopedic volume about first-growth Bordeaux wine, including original labels and tasting notes. He initially priced it at $475 — a joke, Bloom said, meant to compare the book to the cost of one such bottle.

In Philadelphia, one of his favorite restaurants was Parc, which reminded him of his beloved France, and where he would often hold court at his usual table.

"He would rest his cane on the railing and sit facing the incoming crowd," wrote his friend Peter Tarantino. "Of course he knew them all — or at least the ones who were interesting."

He was also fond of Vernick. Steiner ventured there with friends in recent days but found she wasn't ready yet.

"It felt sad," she said. "Clearly he was missing."

Mr. Rich's remains have already been cremated, Steiner said, as per his wishes. But she said she hoped to plan an event in his honor for his friends at some future date.

"It's going to be a party, something very festive," she said. "I know what he would want. He wants people to have a good time."