Timeless Words

Last week, a former co-worker of mine died suddenly of a heart attack at the young age of 46. I had worked with Bob at a couple of different companies and had known him for about 15 years. He was a true Renaissance man - very well read on a multitude of topics and his intelligence ran deep. Although I hadn't seen him or talked to him in about 3-4 years, I had kept up with his progress at the last company we worked at together through mutual co-workers.

One of the things I admired about Bob, was his ability to express his true feelings in an eloquent, unoffensive way. I remember one time our marketing team was pushing to run a promotion that was a bit on the eccentric side. We had some editorial support for the idea, but Bob was quite frank about the fact that he didn't find it a very profitable idea. Although he didn't think it was the grandest of ideas, he allowed us to proceed forward. Needless to say, the novelty of the promotion was great, but it didn't provide a lot of measurable success for the organization. Once again, Bob knew best.

I wondered what his current company, my former employer, would do as a tribute to his memory. Their memoriam was truly remarkable. It lists links to articles and video footage with Bob at his best. There are also links to his online obituary, guest book, and a threaded discussion to reminisce the good times with Bob. I understand that they are compiling DVDs for his 4 children to have as a remembrance of their father for years to come.

His employer captured the essence with the quote that leads off the memoriam page. J Michael Straczynski, writer of Bablyon 5, said one time, "Like everyone else, I am going to die. But the words - the words live on for as long as there are readers to see them, audiences to hear them. It is immortality..." May Bob's words live on for many years to come.