Risky Business: A Personal Loss
Risky Business: A Personal Loss
Please forgive me for not writing an article this month, but I lost my husband on Nov. 7, 2010 after a long illness of congestive heart failure.
It has made me feel so loved and cared about this past week as I’ve received an amazing amount of e-mails, phone calls, cards and flowers from many of you in the dental laboratory industry offering encouragement and condolences to me and my family. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for your kind words of sympathy and support.
Len loved this industry as much as I do. During our 11 years of marriage, he got to know so many of my clients as he accompanied me in my travels. Dave Weber in Eureka, Ca., actually flew us both out to his lab First Class one year and then took Len out on a boat during the day while I worked in the lab. I didn’t think that was quite fair, but Len enjoyed it immensely. Len also met many of the exhibitors at the tradeshows as he accompanied me around the country. I guess because he had been in their place when he was a salesman in the pharmaceutical business that he knew how to help them pass the time when there was a lull in the attendance. He never forgot a thing about people and could always pick up with anyone right where they left off at the next year’s meeting. He had a phenomenal memory. Len was my biggest fan and greatest supporter. I could never have done all I’ve been able to do while married to him without his understanding over the years about my travels. He called me, “the gypsy” and if I happened to be at home for more than two weeks, he teased me about when the gypsy would be taking off again.
Thank you dental lab industry for embracing him over the past 11 years and making him so welcomed in our industry. Having been president of a pharmaceutical manufacturing company and managing a facility that FDA used as a training ground for their inspectors, he truly understood the importance of regulations and how much effort it took a business to comply with them. Len was a great supporter of the positive strides that the dental lab industry has made through the NADL to gain greater respect by the dental community. I will miss him so much as will the rest of his family and friends.
