John Bromley, a family friend of ours for many years, passed away yesterday after suffering for more than 6 or 7 years with testicular cancer. He was given only about 4-5 months at the time of his diagnoses—so the many years, world travel, family trips and ongoing connections he was able to make with everyone were a blessing. 

John was an interesting guy— very intelligent, liberal in a lot of his views, friends with many democrats — but called himself a republican and told me that as soon as I made enough money, I would want to be one too. At his core, he was actually as liberal as the rest of us. I think sometimes he just enjoyed being contrary to keep the conversation going. Makes me smile just thinking of that.

 John helped me decide my path after college. He said that I shouldn’t go to graduate school simply to go….but that I should only go when there was something I wanted to learn and no other way to learn it than to go back to school. Four years after I finished college he was one of the first people I told about my decision to go back to school part time to get my MBA. John would call my sister and I, Dear Girl, every time he spoke to us….I will miss the relationship I was fortunate to have with that remarkable human being.