The Boy Truly is Father to the Man

I was a close friend of Roy's back at PS 162 in Bayside. He and Louis Wang were my 'smart friends.' Although there was no way I could keep up with him intellectually (in fact, I was one of those poor contestants that Roy easily beat in the Current Events bee Louis mentioned), that was of no consequence to Roy.

Unfortunately, I lost touch with Roy when I moved out of town in junior high, but I never lost touch with the memory of the warmth and depth of his friendship.

I have frequently thought of tracking Roy down, because I just knew he would become a great man. His decency, compassion, sense of humor and intellect were already on display back then.

Unfortunately, it was only today, in preparation for a presentation I will be making at a CNI conference, that I learned of Roy's passing. Reading the testimonials all evening has been a bittersweet experience. Very, very sad, but so thrilled to see what a wonderful human being he turned out to be.

So, a little bit about the Roy I knew. He, Louis and I did a lot together, often at Roy's house after school, in large measure because he lived much closer to school than we did, but also because it was always a warm and comfortable place to be.

We'd play the standard board games (Monopoly, Careers, Life, etc), we'd go bowling (I don't recall that Roy was particularly adept at that particular activity!), we'd talk sports, and I even vividly recall that it was at Roy's house that I was shown my first Playboy magazine. But whatever it was we did, it was always easy and just plain fun. Simply put, Roy was someone you wanted to be around.

I now know that the boy I knew, was truly the father of the man so may others were lucky enough to know and love.