Mike came from the "School of Hard Knocks." While he did not discuss his previous experience much, you can tell from his stories. For most other people, these challenging experiences transform them to be harder and edgier.  In Mike's case, he became more determined but also gentler and wiser. He became a force for the better: improving business operations, driving innovation, or his final work on making the higher education more accountable to the students, not some system.

I have the honor of knowing Mike in the final 15 years of his life, and during this period, I witness the transformation of Mike from a hard-nosed business executive to a talented teacher and academic.  In some ways, I took the same journey, lagging behind him by a few years.  And in my journal, Mike was my best mentor and a dear friend.

When we first met back in 2002, he just entered the education industry wanting to improve higher education. He worked tirelessly to transform the curriculum, the teaching delivery platform, and how teachers interaction with students. He spent endless hours visiting some of the most depressed neighborhoods around New York to learn what works and what did not.  When he decided to pursue his doctoral at Pace in around 2004, he threw himself in it completely. As Noel mentioned, he became the "mayor" of our cohort and drove our group together. Shortly after he finished, he started his 4th? or 5th? career as a professor at NJCU where he became the Marketing Chairperson. In his new role as a professor, he worked with companies in the NYC area and introduced his students to them - often pushing the NJCU students to find jobs and achieve higher goals. He became the champion of all those who needed his help. Like the story in Vietnam that Dan mentioned, which was so much like Mike, no one asked. He just performed.

I miss him so much: miss our regular gathering at the Park Ridge Diner; miss his emails of encouragement pushing me to finish my doctoral; miss his smile always so full of life and knowing; miss the sound of his voice telling me the latest inequities in life or sharing his latest ideas; miss his stories - how he loves his family, how his son John won another swim competition, how he was so proud of his son Mike and the two wonderful grand kids...  The world just lost a really good man, but his goodness will be remembered by those he touched. He will be missed by many.

Many people are surprised to learn Mike was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery in action in Viet Nam. He never talked about it much. It was so typical of Mike's devotion to good and right causes, of which there were many people did not know about. I learned about this story in a casual conversation. Being a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army is a lot responsibility without much glory. I know from my own two years in the U.S. Army. Mike tells this story as though it were a casual decision to run a necessary shopping errant. He learned that a group were isolated in battle area about to be overrun by the Viet Cong but all communications were down. Mike said, somebody had to go out there and get those guys out of there. No one ordered him to do it. He just did it. He came close to not returning with those men out of harm's way--but he managed it. That was Mike. Something that was right had to be done--so he just did it. There are many other stories that parallel this kind of bravery and selfless action. This is who Mike was. A big guy with a big heart--and a very big brain. I so miss him.
Dan Spink