Nancy
I wanted to tell how nice it was to see you at the tree dedication on White Oak campus (I was standing behind you in the shade of the barn) and how pleased I am you were able to come. Avi was, as you said, such a loving and gentle man, and I have nothing but fond memories of working with him – he never got rattled, he never lost his temper, and he never lost his passion for his work and his family.
I remember the last time I saw him – I had just started a new job in the Office of International Program – one of the things our group does is arrange for travel, diplomatic passports, visas etc… when an FDA’er presents at a conference overseas. To my great surprise, he was wandering around our hallways trying to find where the travel team was located. As we often did, we had a nice chat – I had no clue that he was ill. He never said anything and it never showed. But it explained his drive to ensure his family were taken care of. And he was driven.
I go back to Cardio-Renal as often as I can (my office is only across campus, you’d think it was across town!). That will always be home, and those are my people. It is a very different place now, with no Avi. And I miss him popping his head into my office with his, “How do?”
We really are the fortunate ones aren’t we? Many of our rough edges are smoother because of our interactions with him. Such a shame we could not have shared him more broadly – the world needs more people like that.
- Meg
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