At 8.41pm last night, the following email came in from my dad: At 11:20 am this morning, while at an event, Tamar called me and simply said.Mom has asked me to inform you that based on Poppy's condition today and the comments of the visiting hospice nurse, it appears that he is now in what is termed an "end stage."
Poppy's condition took a marked turn for the worse around mid-day. The efforts are all directed to various forms of relieving the varioius sources of his discomfort. Poppy no longer recognizes anyone.
"Poppy just passed away."At 11:21, the email from my dad, simply:
I just received a telephone call from Ellen that her father died moments ago.
And just like that, I no longer have any living grandparents. Almost 87 years of life came to an end, only 5 weeks after my Nana died. Certainly no one would have predicted this a year or two ago.
If I look at the person I have become today, much of it can be traced back to Poppy.
He was President of the Union Wallpaper and Paint Company and also my first employer. At age 7, I would walk the 2 blocks from JDS to his store after school (alone!) and he would pay me a quarter for whatever service I provided. I think the service was "hanging out with my Poppy."
Poppy was a self-made businessman.
He went to college for 2 years (at U of MD), but had learned about life the hard way when his father died when he was 15. Born in 1920, he was a child of the Depression and a true War Hero. Our friend, Congressman Waxman (D-CA), was kind enough to insert a moving tribute to him on the occasion of his 83rd birthday in the Congressional Record.
His days in the famed "Flying Tigers" shaped him in many ways, most of all with his questionably safe "evasive action maneuver" as he intentionally swerved the car back and forth, throwing us around in the backseat like a roller coaster, driving us home after a long day of watching football at his apartment.
His financial savvy wasn't learned in academic books, it was learned through careful study. He taught us about investments, stocks, smart management, not to be "penny wise but pound foolish" and the value of a dollar.
Another passion of his was gadgets...yes, it's hereditary.
Our outings would frequently end up Radio Shack or some other store as we played with [and often bought] the newest technology. He could fix most anything and loved trying new things out. I remember taking a great deal of pride in the fact that 6 years ago, I could IM and email with my grandfather, and he had a Palm Pilot (which he knew how to use better than most.)
He had a car that talked to him...in 1988, the first CD player most people ever saw, and was debating with me a few years ago whether it was worth it for him to upgrade the Operating System on his Apple Macintosh. Yes, we concluded, an 85 year old man did have a distinct need for OS X with a broadband connection.
He was my "go-to" career advisor and his best advice, simple, but profound is one that is eternal--Remember...it all starts with the sale. Without that, you have nothing.
Many of you have received a call from me on your birthday...know why I do that? Because Poppy had the birthdays of everyone he knew in some sort of organizer (I've just automated it a bit).As a businessman, his credibility was immaculate and he always stuck by his word. "Your word is your bond."
But, straight-laced, he wasn't. He had a healthy disrespect for some rules and saw the jokes and opportunity for humor in much of life.
At restaurants, he would sign his credit card receipts as "George Washington" and when I was learning how to drive, we went to the parking lot at NIH, saw some orange cones which he thought would make good parallel parking practice and decided that it was our duty to "liberate" them.
My dad made him take them back.
When I do something that one might say "pushes the envelope", I say, "that is something Stanley Robinson would have done," which sends chills down my dad's (and tamar's) spine.
He liked to wager on football, not a lot, but enough to make it interesting. Thanks to Poppy, I know what a point spread is.
I learned Gin, Backgammon, and Connect Four from him, but more than that, I learned generosity and caring for others.
There's a story that he was interviewing a man for a job on the phone once and the man said:
"Mr. Robinson, I have to tell you. I'm colored."
"Oh really, what color are you?" he replied. "I don't care if you are
purple or pink. Can you do the job?"
I guess it comes down to convention...Poppy bought into it, when it made sense to him and laughed at it, healthily, when it didn't.
"Can Stanley come out and play?" is a goal I have set for myself. Youth is a state of mind.
For his 85th birthday, I made a video tribute. You're welcome to view it, but it will only be relevant to those who knew him and his social circle. It's below.
And his social circle was HUGE. He was involved in the Temple, President of the Country Club, volunteered at Sibley (where he was a HIT with the nurses) for many years, and made everyone into a friend.
Well, except for a few :-)
Apparently, there was a Rabbi at his synagogue whom he didn't particularly care for. The Rabbi died and Poppy went to the funeral. Someone said to him:
"Stanley, I thought you didn't like the Rabbi."
"I didn't. I'm just here to make sure he's in the box."
He wasn't afraid to share his opinions (athletes make too much money and they don't do it for the love of the game), but he was willing to listen to yours (even if he had no intention of agreeing) and he respected you for them.
He embraced Tamar when she joined the family and I remember the look on his face at seeing his first great-grandchild. That's because I have a picture of it. They were overjoyed and I felt so happy to have given them this moment (with an assist from Tamar, of course).
I'm kind of spent right now, so I'll take a break.
Here's the video I mentioned...
Subscribe to RSS Feed