[mgj32]

Hello all,
One hardly knows what to say at such a time. Perhaps it is enough that all my memories are fond and I will miss him greatly. We had a long and fairly regular exchange of emails, in which we discussed just about everything from the best way to pill an unwilling cat to food and fine wines to Physics, but mostly music. He was a GP with a specialty in dermatology, of which department he became the head at one of Holland's ("Frogland" he liked to call it) leading medical institutions. When he retired he devoted as much time as possible to music, and probably never heard any decently done composition, in any genre, that he didn't like. A number of times he was a great help to me when I was indecisive or stuck in the middle of something I was writing, usually with a simple suggestion.

He was a gentleman and a gentle man who possessed a wit, used most often for fun and never that I can recall as a dagger, but sometimes as a prod, as when he wrote from Bali, after an afternoon on the beach, that the crowds sunning and visiting the food stands made it look as if the next generation of dermatologists and cardiologists would be well taken care of.

When, last fall, testing at his former hospital showed how ill he was, he decided to leave things to a higher will than ours, though his oncologist considered Chemo worth trying. His brother in law, a pharmacologist by specialty, added his recommendation, and mixed the weekly "potions" that he finally agreed to. Djim's comment on it all was to the effect that if the Lord Buddha had further plans for him in this life, He'd better get busy, but that his real hope was to be a great musician in the next life.

So with many fond memories, I will miss those that might have been yet to be made. And I hope with all my heart that his hope will be realized.

all best,
mgj