Jacob David Trambert (Jacob Trambitsky)

It has been a year since we lost our Jake, a loving, caring, gentle, and playful soul who made lifelong friends wherever he went. While growing up in Santa Barbara, Jake spent many years in Berkeley and the Bay Area and significant time in NYC. He was an accomplished artist, working with graffiti early on, quickly moving to calligraphy, sketching, digital arts, metalwork, furniture design, and tattooing. Some of Jake’s other passions included hiking, swimming, yoga, and Krav Maga. He was a natural goofy foot snowboarder, skater, and surfer. Jacob was a gifted guitar player and, recently, a banjo player with an emerging soulful voice. He was a voracious reader, reading more books in his 26 years than most read in a lifetime. Jake embraced and excelled in his studies of Philosophy and Design at Berkeley.

Jake learned that one way to mitigate his depression was through international travel. He would spend his summers and winter breaks either traveling internationally or visiting NYC to ground himself. Most often, he would participate in workaway programs at artist residencies internationally.

Jake loved to work with his hands, which he found very centering. While studying at Berkeley, he initially worked for O2 Treehouse in Oakland, assisting in the build of intricately beautiful adult treehouses for wealthy patrons, doing finish carpentry, and eventually metal work – which became a passion for Jake. In his last several years, he worked as an accomplished foundryman, fabricating bronze pieces at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley for multiple influential artists, including numerous pieces for the Bay Area artist Woody De Othello. Jake’s last project that he worked on for De Othello was “Pocket Watch,” a 10’ tall bronze piece with public installation at 1900 Broadway in Oakland, CA. He also fabricated a 7’ tall bronze Johnny Cash dedication guitar pick (for artist Adan Romo), which will be installed at the entrance to the Johnny Cash Trail in Folsom, CA, next year. Jake’s fabrication will stand not far from where Cash recorded his iconic live album within Folsom Prison.

Jacob, our creative, gifted artist, foundryman, tattoo artist, soulful musician, world traveler, and adventurer, our intellectual, kind, loving, insightful, and gentle soul, our loving brother and son, and dear friend to so many, passed away in November 2023, after battling depression over the last 10 years.

Jacob is survived by his mother Shauna Wood, his father Michael Trambert, his sister Talia Trambert, his stepmother Jacquelyn Klein-Brown, his stepfather William Wood, and his stepbrothers Matt, Mark, Alec, Chris, and Michael. Jake had a profound impact on the many lives he touched. He is deeply loved and so incredibly missed.