Eulogy

On behalf of our family, I would like to thank all of you for being here. We have received an enormous amount of support from family and friends during this difficult time and all of the phone calls, meals and gifts of support have truly been a blessing to us. All of you know that my dad loved a party and he would have loved this - a gathering with all of his old and new friends. So thank you very much for being here.

Most of you know my dad from either Capitol College or CCACC. He taught at the college for 33 years, sharing the time as a math professor and department head. After retirement he spent much of his time volunteering as a translator for a Chinese adult day care service.

I will remember two things most about my dad. First was that he was a master communicator. Whether in the classroom, at home, or volunteering, he loved words. Always reading books or newspapers, he loved the ability to transfer ideas and concepts from one person to another. The capability to share thoughts was something he cherished. In fact, he was probably most frustrated near the end of his life because he wasn't fully able to communicate his thoughts due to the level of his disease. I appreciated what one person wrote on the online obituary - that my dad even made Calculus fun. Well, I didn't think it was that fun, but oh well....

I also will remember that he was a believer in the human spirit. As a professor, he always identified with the potential in each student. He had the remarkable ability to look past the present and project the future path of students he taught. A remarkable and uncanny gift, this is what drove him - the future was his passion. Teaching was the medium by which he could inspire the present and create in his students people that embodied what mankind was truly capable of. Perhaps this balance between present and future represented his most frustrating times - with me as a lazy, apathetic high school student with dire grades - as well as his most proud - when I graduated from his esteemed Capitol College. I represent, as many others, the product of his projections.

My dad was an immensely, funny, kind, caring man. We will all remember his sense of humor, his ability to make friends, his warmth and care. But in the end, I believe he would have wanted us to live lives that count, ones that reached our potential and lives that projected a better future for those around us.

Thank you again for celebrating his life with us today.