Howard "Chip" Silverman, one of the original "diner guys" who chronicled life and coming of age in 1950s and 1960s Northwest Baltimore and later became director of the state Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration, died Thursday evening of melanoma at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 65.
Dr. Silverman, an addictions clinician and behavioral health consultant, had lived at Harper House condominiums in Cross Keys since 2003.
From 1970 to 1975, he coached Morgan State's lacrosse team, which gained national recognition during his tenure.
"I've known him since 10th grade homeroom. It's been that long. If I was to look at Chip's life in movie terms, he'd be George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. And like George Bailey, he affected people in so many ways," said Barry Levinson, director of the 1982 movie, Diner.
"Chip was a funny and sarcastic person. He loved writing about people and characters in the community. A lot of people knew him. He knew how to make a friendship special and personal," Mr. Levinson said. "At the end of the day, he had a great love of life and truly enjoyed his time."
Dr. Silverman was born in Baltimore, the son of a grocer and a homemaker, and grew up on Queensberry Avenue in the city's Pimlico neighborhood.
"We lived three blocks away from Pimlico racetrack and we loved telling people that we had stables. It was a family joke," said a sister, Harriet Silverman of Tucson, Ariz., with a laugh. "What was important to us growing up in those years was the Queensberry Playground. It was central to our lives."
Leonard "Boogie" Weinglass, founder of the old Merry-Go-Round clothing chain, first got to know Dr. Silverman when both were kids.
"I was at the Towanda Playground and we'd play Queensberry. I really got to know him when we were teenagers and later at Forest Park High School and at the Hilltop Diner on Reisterstown Road, where Chip, Barry and me were fixtures," said Mr. Weinglass. "I have to say, he was always very funny - even way back then."
Mr. Levinson's 1982 movie Diner immortalized a group of friends who on late nights at the Hilltop discussed life, girls and sports over platters of food.
"One of the things we did was try and outdo each other with our dates, which we called a `great post,'" Mr. Levinson said.
Dr. Silverman explained the term in his 1989 book, Diner Guys.
"A great post was a blue-eyed, blonde shiksa, at least 5'6", that no one in Northwest Baltimore had ever seen," he wrote.
