Debra Brindisi Shuster

Debbie Shuster, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, passed away surrounded by family on Thursday night after a brief battle with pneumonia.    Debbie was born Debra Jean Dustin 66 years ago in Caribou, Maine but was brought, at an early age, to California where she was raised and went to school in the Bay area. The oldest of 5 siblings, Debbie would, all of her life, fiercely love and care for her brother and sisters. Family…meant everything to Debbie.  Debbie’s long career in accounting and tax began 35 years ago in San Francisco but for the past 27 years her “work” home was with Withum formerly known in Southern California as KSJG.  During her time there she distinguished herself as an associate with an impeccable work ethic and treasured friend to many of her co-workers.  However Debbie’s true joy, meaning and purpose in life were in being a mother and grandmother.  Not only to her own children and grandchildren, but to her stepchildren and to her step grandchildren and as a surrogate mother and grandmother to many of her children’s friends and extended family. She seldom missed a birthday, anniversary or opportunity to let those she loved know that she was thinking about them.  Married to her soul-mate, Debbie and Ed were married for 20 years but their relationship spanned more than thirty. They both relocated to Orange County from the Bay area and built a home and life together in Irvine where she lived at the time of her passing.   Debbie is survived by her husband Ed Shuster; her son Rob Brindisi; her daughter and son-in-law Darcy and Anthony Gonzalez and their children Anthony Jr., Bella, Tosh and Marley; her stepdaughters, Stephanie Shuster and Tiffany Shuster Benaroya along with Tiffany’s husband Adam and their son Maddox.  Also survived by her brother Rick Dustin; her sisters Cindy Toth, Roxanne Sullivan and Winifred San Filippo along with many nieces, nephews and grands.  Our hearts are broken.  It’s hard to know what life will look like without her in it and we will miss her forever.