Deborah (Debbie) Berne died on Dec. 24 at her home after a two-year battle with glioblastoma, loved by family and friends. She passed away five days before her 56th birthday.
Debbie’s first book, The Design of Books (The University of Chicago Press), launched just weeks after her diagnosis. The book drew on her more than 20 years as a professional book designer and has since been translated into three languages. Debbie’s extensive career included work for Berkeley’s Parallax Press; the iconic “How-To” mindfulness series by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is still seen at bookstores everywhere. Cookbooks became her specialty, with highlights such as The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook and the first two Official Downton Abbey cookbooks.
During her struggle with cancer, Debbie began and completed her second book. Her passion kept her trekking back and forth to the Berkeley, UC Berkeley, and Rockridge libraries as she researched, wrote, and designed Cookbooking: A Fan’s Guide, to be published in 2026 by Hardie Grant, Berkeley. In Debbie’s own words: “There are so many books written about food, and this isn’t going to be one of them. Rather, Cookbooking: A Fan’s Guide is a book about books about food.”
Debbie loved to make music. She played banjo in the Squirrelly String Band, which spent a decade as the house band at the North Oakland Square Dance and played at music festivals up and down the West Coast.
Debbie lived fully, authentically, and with purpose. When she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she adopted the motto “No Day but Today,” inspired by one of her favorite musicals, Rent. While going through treatment, she wrote, read, traveled, danced, exercised, baked, ate what she wanted, and cherished her time with family and her large circle of friends, all of whom loved her distinctive laugh.
Born in West Orange, NJ, and raised in West Bloomfield, MI, Debbie graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in art history and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. She then moved to New York City and later San Francisco before settling in Oakland.
Debbie is survived by her husband, David Murray; their child, Helvetica Berne; her parents, Edward and Judith Doner Berne of Rockridge; her brother, David Berne of Los Angeles; her sister, Jennifer Berne of Madison, WI; and the aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephew who make up her loving family.