Yesterday was my good friend Gary Silverman’s funeral. It was hard to think about much else than about Gary. I attended the funeral on Zoom and thought David and Noah stood out. I liked the simple statement by David “I am proud Gary Silverman was my Father." I, and many others was proud he was our friend.
Two Rabbis spoke. I rarely am enthralled by any Rabbi’s remarks at a funeral. Rarely, can they capture the essence of the decedent. Sometimes they say what family and friends want to hear, but most of the time, the family and friends program the Rabbi in a crash course just before the funeral. That was not the case here, but still they missed the mark I wanted them to hit.
I said a good deal about my friend when I wrote the eulogy Gary asked me to write so he could read it during his lifetime. I did not nearly cover the waterfront, nor do I have the words or space to adequately express my thoughts, but here is my best effort.
I do not think the customary, almost trite phrases such as “a lawyers lawyer” is nearly sufficient. Gary, to my knowledge, always took the high road and did the right thing. He was always happy to help those in need regardless of their circumstances. When he came to a fork in the road, he inevitably took the right fork and did so for the right reasons.
One principle that fewer and fewer people embrace to their detriment and the detriment of others, is that Gary never stopped learning. He was always trying to become better at what he was doing. He never took shortcuts, and he always did his best.
There are fewer and fewer Mohicans left. Gary came from an era where the lawyer always fought like hell for the client, but did so ethically. Then he and opposing counsel would go out and have dinner together. The legal fight was not personal.
Moreover. Gary greatly to making law a respected profession. He participated in making his community a better place to live. Nowadays, lawyers are chained to the billable hour. They do not have time to contribute their time to coaching little league or helping out at the bake sale
Gary worked hard and played hard. He was a fiercely loyal friend and just loved good food particularly Chinese food and particularly dim sum. When we worked together in San Francisco, we almost exclusively ate Chinese food. When he observed “you know we are only eating Chinese food”, I responded “the Chinese do”.
Hanging out with Gary Silverman was never boring. There was barely a subject on which Gary could not intelligently opine. We took many long drives together, sometimes literally 12 hours a day together and never looked around to be rescued. Gary Silverman was fun.
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Got my new passport. It expires in 2033. My optimistic Wife quipped “there are only 60 pages”.
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Three cheers for Georgia Governor Kemp. He made a very strong statements that Willis has done nothing wrong, and any efforts to remove her is likely unconstitutional and will go nowhere on his watch.
Conversely, Trump has announced that, if he is re-elected, he will jail his political opponents. The man is evil.
What I am not understanding is why every Judge assigned to every Trump litigation has not already issues a rule to show cause as to why Trump’s statement does not constitute intimidating witnesses. This sure looks like criminal contempt charges are in order.
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The Pulitzer Prize for humor will be going to Justice Clarence Thomas for his most recent financial disclosure. It is hilarious.
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Marlins are now back to .500 with a road win against the Nationals. The need to win all four games because they come back home to face the Dodgers.
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See you tomorrow. At least that is my plan.
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Go Ukraine
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