one of the nicest men, ever

My boss, Stanley Rothenberg, is easily one of the most generous, good hearted men I have ever met, let alone worked for. I could regale you with his achievements in the field of copyright, I could overwhelm you with the cases he's argued and won, I could describe to you his family, the hoardes of people who love him. I could drown you in his accolades. But you might not get how special he is that way.

Last year my firm moved across town. And in the few weeks before we left, my boss was in the hospital. So I helped him pack up his office, filing what needed to be filed, and pitching everything I could. I had a great time, since organizing people is what I'm really good at.

Going through the tons of paperwork in his office, I discovered everything he's held onto for the last ten years -- birth announcements for secretaries, memos of colleagues he was proud of, and miles upon miles of his own articles. And I packed it all up. And when we got to the new location, I unpacked and organized everything all over again. He wasn't young and he didn't have any specific filing systems. I wanted him to come into a clutter-free office that ran efficiently. And he did.

A few weeks later, he gave me a thank you note, with an American Express gift card inside it. "I couldn't have done this without you." I wasn't expecting anything, but when I saw the gift card, though it might be $50. It was considerably more. As a thank you, I told him that I would do it again for him any time, as long as we could skip the part where he went into the hospital.

Stanley bought Christmas presents for all the secretaries who sat near him, not just for me. He was always sharing interesting articles or jokes that made him laugh. Since I started working for him five years ago, he's seen more of my shows than my parents have. He has always been supportive of me and my dreams. He has always been respectful, generous, interested and most of all, friendly.

They are taking him off life support tomorrow, and I hope he finds his heaven full of copyright disputes for him to set right.

[author's note: I just found out that instead of "taking him off life support," the family decided not to pursue additional medication options. There is a subtle difference in that, which I think is important to note here.]