Re: John (Phil's father) has died

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

Wow.  That's terrible and sad.  John was the only reason I continued to
work there.  I wish I hadn't lost touch with him.

 > From: "Simon D. Levy" <http://www.wlu.edu/~levys>
 > Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 14:22:43 -0500
 >
 > Phil just called me this morning to tell me that his dad had gone 
 > into the hospital with intestinal pains over the weekend and ended up 
 > dying there of some sort of undetected heart ailment.  Phil and his 
 > younger brother Dave, having lost their mother Patricia ten years ago to 
 > a brain tumor, are now orphans in their mid-30's.  It's a terrible loss 
 > not just to them, but to John's longtime partner Evelyn, and to everyone 
 > who knew and loved John.  When I first moved to Boston, John and 
 > Patricia gave me a home for the summer, and John gave me a job that 
 > helped support myself while I was in grad school at Brandeis, and where 
 > I made two other lifelong friends, Mark Reimers and Robert.  John 
 > and Patricia were both warm, giving people who deserved much longer 
 > lives than they got.
 > 
 > I am planning on heading up to Boston this Friday night or Saturday for 
 > the Saturday funeral (no details yet).  I may end up flying out of 
 > Richmond, in which case it would be nice to combine this with a visit to 
 > Mark and his partner DeAndra, if they're around.  Or I may just drive up 
 > directly from Lexington Friday afternoon and stay at a hotel along with 
 > way.  I'll fill everyone in as details come in and my plans develop.
 > 
 > - Simon