My boss just died.

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by m@T

wow.

pretty sad.

he was great.

sorry to hear that. did you see it coming or was it unexpected? take care

 

[Matt]

Thanks guys. Well, most of you. To the people who think the death of a family man who I happened to really like, admire and care about is a source of humor, I have very little to say. The world is not Dumb Threads. Maybe you should spend a little more time in one and a little less in the other.

To some of the queries upthread:

Yes, I knew him very well on both a personal and professional level. He was an Australian based in Malaysia, and the guy who recruited me out of Singapore to move to Vietnam 5.5 years ago.

He was a fantastic boss, from whom I learned a lot about responsibility, organisation, management, the financials, and my craft in general. Maybe the nicest thing I can say about him was that every time we had an argument in 6-odd years, it was probably because I had done something wrong.

How many people can say that about their boss?

He had a wife and two college age kids. I know all of them, indeed his daughter and her two friends backpacked around Vietnam earlier in the year and stayed with me for about a week. His son came through the year before and I took him out a couple of times. His wife is super cool, but has had a lot of health issues that see her basically dependent on him and effectively bed ridden for 18 hours a day for as long as I have known them. It will be very very tough on her.

He died alone sometime late Sat or early Sun. I still don't know how. He was late 50s, a bit overweight, but not thaaaat badly so. His wife was in Australia visiting the kids, wondering why her husband hadn't called. With her condition, traveling is very tough, and he would check in on her very regularly when either of them was traveling. She's wondering why he hasn't called. Wondering turned to worrying, worrying turned to panicking when he wasn't answering his phone either, called a friend in Malaysia who went over there, let herself in and found him, in the words of my counterpart in our KL office "cold and blue".

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by m@T

Thanks guys. Well, most of you. To the people who think the death of a family man who I happened to really like, admire and care about is a source of humor, I have very little to say. The world is not Dumb Threads. Maybe you should spend a little more time in one and a little less in the other.

To some of the queries upthread:

Yes, I knew him very well on both a personal and professional level. He was an Australian based in Malaysia, and the guy who recruited me out of Singapore to move to Vietnam 5.5 years ago.

He was a fantastic boss, from whom I learned a lot about responsibility, organisation, management, the financials, and my craft in general. Maybe the nicest thing I can say about him was that every time we had an argument in 6-odd years, it was probably because I had done something wrong.

How many people can say that about their boss?

He had a wife and two college age kids. I know all of them, indeed his daughter and her two friends backpacked around Vietnam earlier in the year and stayed with me for about a week. His son came through the year before and I took him out a couple of times. His wife is super cool, but has had a lot of health issues that see her basically dependent on him and effectively bed ridden for 18 hours a day for as long as I have known them. It will be very very tough on her.

He died alone sometime late Sat or early Sun. I still don't know how. He was late 50s, a bit overweight, but not thaaaat badly so. His wife was in Australia visiting the kids, wondering why her husband hadn't called. With her condition, traveling is very tough, and he would check in on her very regularly when either of them was traveling. She's wondering why he hasn't called. Wondering turned to worrying, worrying turned to panicking when he wasn't answering his phone either, called a friend in Malaysia who went over there, let herself in and found him, in the words of my counterpart in our KL office "cold and blue".

That's horrible. It's one thing to plan for a death (cancer, etc...), which does not make the actual death any easier but it alleviates a bit of the stress the family feels if planning was done pre-death. It's quite another for it to happen out of the blue...

 

[JetBlast]

Man that is sad. Condolences.

 

[JLibourel]

It sounds as if it is going to be horribly rough on his poor wife if she is a semi-invalid and has been so dependent on him for care.

Doubly sad that it was such an untimely end for him. In the past couple of decades, we have come to have the expectation that any death prior to one's mid-80s is almost tragically premature, but it doesn't always shake out this way, as in the case of your boss. A lesson that we should treasure life while we have it.

Reminds me a bit of my wife's first marriage. They were all set to go out shopping for a new Volvo one Saturday morning when her husband started vomiting and then keeled over. He was only 52.

Media vita in morte sumus.

One of the consolations of getting older is that with every passing day the less untimely will be your demise.

 

[globetrotter]

very sorry to hear that, Matt. it doens't even sound like you can do very much to comfort the family, and that can make you feel even worse about it.

 

[StephenHero]

Sorry to hear that. What's your line of work?

 

[acidboy]

sad to hear, Matt. really hope his family and you get through this.

 

[Matt]

Originally Posted by StephenHero

Sorry to hear that. What's your line of work?
I run a public relations firm.

 

[wmmk]

My condolences. Does his wife have anyone else to take care of her?

 

[Matt]

Originally Posted by wmmk

My condolences. Does his wife have anyone else to take care of her?
not really. Very up in the air how it will all play out. Both of her kids are in Australia, as are all of her family....presumably she will move back there, but god, at the moment, who knows.

 

[Sherman90]

Condolences. Your respect for the man is an admirable tribute.

 

[Teacher]

Just tragic. Yes, as Jon said, these sudden deaths put a horrible and shocking strain on a family. And of course, let's not minimize the impact this will have on your business: even though it won't be as emotionally wrenching as it is on the family, it's still important and not to be overlooked.

 

[Douglas]

Shocking and terrible way to go. Very sorry, again, to hear it. In a slightly more M@t-centric vein, I hope none of this affects any of your employment situation for the worse.

 

[orlagu]

May he rest in peace.

As some of you might have known, I work for Matt, so his boss is my boss' boss. Never had the chance to know him as well as Matt did, but I found in him everything I could expect from a boss.