Mike was raised by a single mom. But he was the one who all those years took care of his brothers and sisters with financial advice and a lot of emotional support. He was the one they called when things weren’t going well for them. And he continued this with me, his kids, many friends.

The saddest part of his life is we now have eight grandchildren and only one has a slight recognition of him. The others were too young, and Mike, more than anything, couldn’t wait for grandchildren. But he only knew two of the eight.

Every time I hear of a New York City train incident I think of Mike. He worked for 40 years at the New York City transit authority as one of the chief financial officers and he probably would be appalled at what is going on in New York City. Even though he didn’t live in the city, he loved it.

We just had Easter which makes me remember how one year Mike started a tradition when our kids were little of leaving chocolate eggs coming down the steps into the living room where their Easter baskets would be. This way, when they woke up, they could see the Easter bunny had come and they would then collect the eggs. When they got older, the 5 of them would scream and run to see who got the most eggs. We still do this and now those who have their own house have continued this silly tradition. As for me, I say too much candy for me to eat.