I met Michael 28 years ago and about six months later he welcomed me to his family. I can still remember exactly where this occurred. It was on a sidewalk in Marina Del Rey at the Marina City Club and we had our whole life ahead of us. He was warm and genuine in his offer and I immediately felt very comfortable. I was engaged to be married to his sister, Marcia and we were planning our wedding.
Throughout this stressful time he and his father Carl were always there for me to provide stability and common sense advise to make sense of what I was about to enter into. Over all the years that followed, we always had a great mutual respect for each other and an unspoken understanding that we were an unwavering bridge between our mutual families.
Michael was a bachelor for the first 20 years of our relationship. When Marcia gave birth to our twin boys Bryan and Jason, he was an incredibly great Uncle to both of them. From their birth, he treated them with the love and patience that he has shown his own son Dylan, over the last nearly 8 years. He experienced great pleasure in the active participation in sports and an unrelenting appreciation of the environment. He willing shared these passions with my sons, giving them the benefit of his life experiences. As a result he taught them to appreciate the value of sports and the outdoors, to a depth that I could not provide for them myself.
I am forever grateful to Michael for what he has given of himself to my boys. His positive influence will remain with them through all the challenges that life will throw at them in the future. I could not have asked for a more caring and compassionate brother in-law or brother for that matter and uncle for my sons.
Although he was tragically taken from us well before his time, I know that all who know him and especially his son, Dylan will carry Michael with them for the rest of their lives.
