MICHAEL D. GLICKSOHN, 1946-2011, RIP

MICHAEL D. GLICKSOHN, 1946-2011, RIP

Mike Glicksohn was possibly the second most famous letter of comment writer to fanzines in all of fanzine fan history, after Harry Warner, Jr.

Mike was a writer, a publisher, a personality, a math teacher, a good man, a great fan, beloved by many, friend to even more.

141 High Park Avenue, Toronto, is an address I'll never forget, I saw it so many times. Later Mike wrote from  508 Windermere Avenue, and earlier from 35 Willard St., and 267 St. George St.,  all famous fan addresses.

Although in early days, giants such as Rick Sneary reigned, for the Sixties and Seventies and longer, it was Glicksohn who took the mantle of Warner as letter writer to almost all fanzines.

His own primary fanzine, done with fellow Hugo-winner, both together, and on her own, was Energumen.

Complete run: http://efanzines.com/Energumen/index.htm

Go read, view, and admire what you can of it.

It was one of the most deserving Hugo-winning zines ever.  The .pdfs can't begin to show the quality of production.  Mike was one of the most meticulous of publishers, in every detail from that beautiful 24-lb blue bond paper, to doing one of the most beautifully illustrated and graphically well-designed fanzines ever, finding and publishing, many for the first time, some of the best fan artists, later pros, ever published, including more or less discovering Tim Kirk, Alicia Austin, James Shull, George Barr, Derek Carter, and so many more, including Connie (Reich) Faddis, Alexis Gilliland, Mike Gilbert, the list goes on on and on.

Less known was that he published some of Joe Haldeman's first fan art: http://efanzines.com/Energumen/Energumen01_s.pdf

He published Jack Gaughn, to whom the first issue in February of 1970 was dedicated, and a fold-out centerpiece of art was included, as well as that first cover. Many illos of that issue were by the great Alicia Austin.  His longtime great friend, Joe Haldeman, also managed to have a letter in the first issue.

Jay Kinney, Bill Rotlser (of course!), Phil Foglio, Bernie Zuber, Jeff Schalles, Arthur Thomson (ATom), and many others were among the numerous artists Mike published so immaculately.

The writers he and Susan Wood (Glicksohn) published won Best Fan Writer Hugos, their artists, Best Fan Artist Hugos.

That was in no small part due to Mike Glicksohn.

Read The Rest Scale: if you're a science fiction fan, yes.

Mike Glicksohn and Susan Wood  Glicksohn

Photo © by Andrew I. Porter

MidwestCon #28 1977

Mike Glicksohn sitting on the shoulders of the world. Among the other people visible in the photo are: Ross Pavlac, Moshe Feder.

Mike Glicksohn talking with Bob Shaw (Seacon '79)
British Worldcon, 1979. Photo © by Frank Olynyk.

Seacon 79: Opening Ceremony - in the audience Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman and Mike Glicksohn. Photo © by Debbie King

He published art by Sandra Meisel, Jonh Ingham, Alpajuri (Paul Novitski), Andy Porter, Jeff Cochran/Freff, Brad Balfour, Jeff Schalles, Grant Canfield, Bjo Trimble, Bill Kunkel, Dan Steffan, Randy Bathurst, Terry Austin, endless amounts of Bill Rotsler, Alex Eisenstein, Ken Fletcher, Steve Fabian, Eddie Jones, Vincent DiFate, Ron Miller, C. Lee Healey, Steve Stiles, Joe Pearson, and many divers hands.

The covers were beautifully off-set on the highest quality stock.

Writing, fannish and sercon alike, by Susan Glickson (Wood), Tony Lewis, Joe W. Haldeman, John R. Douglas, Greg Benford, Angus Taylor, Paul Walker, Ted Pauls, Arnie Katz, Bob Shaw, Terry Carr, reprints from Walter A. Willis, Bob Silverberg, Bill Rotlser, Dean Koontz, John D. Berry, andy offut, Rick Stooker, Ginjer Buchanan, Avram Davidson, Jerry Lapidus, Bob Toomey, Ted White, Harry Warner, Jr., Walt Liebscher, Darrell Schweitzer, Sandra Meisel and, again, many more.

Fans and pros of every persuasion could be found in 'Nerg, and no one could be found who didn't think the fanzine was of the highest possible quality.  Major letterhacks there included Jerry Kaufman, Warner, Meisel, Lapidus, the unforgettable Dave Hulvey, Mike Deckinger, Mike O'Brien, Roger Bryant, Darrell Schweitzer, Grant Canfield, and the oft-quoted Aljo (Alva) Svoboda.

As a convention fan, Michael reigned supreme, smoothing With Bob Tucker and Beam's choice, found at just about every Midwestern sf convention there was, for decades, staying up at the parties until dawn, speaking articulately at panels, befriending neos, moving with ease among the great professional writers to the humblest of neofans, friend to nearly all.  He was a major part of the Toronto in 1973 Worldcon bid, later one of the most successful Worldcons ever, Torcon II.  He was a founder of OSFiC, the Ontario Science Fiction club that sponsored Torcon II and other sf cons.  Another beautiful, more personal, zine of his, was Xenium.

From that first issue, Rosemary Uyllot's column, Kumquat May, done by a then unknown fan, earned enough attention to

The first four issues were published in memorable yellow: http://efanzines.com/Energumen/Energumen01PaperColour.jpg

But later, the far more indelible upon memory blue, which I cannot show you a sample of, alas, but Taral Wayne did make a CD-ROM:  Strange Voyages is apparently still available from Taral Wayne, 245 Dunn Ave. Apt. 2111, Toronto Ontario, M6K 1S6 Canada.  $15 (US or Canadian) covers shipping and handling as well as $1 to be donated to TAFF in Mike's name. For orders outside North America, please add $2 to cover the extra cost of postage, for a total of $17.  So it says here.

Some notes on Awards and other links:

Glicksohn, Michael    | permalink
Winner of 1 Hugo, 3 FAAn Awards
1970
[ fan writer ]
- 1971 Locus/12 (tie)
Energumen [MG & Susan Glicksohn]
- fanzine : 1971 Hugo
1971
[ fan writer ]
- 1972 Locus/8
Energumen [MG & Susan Glicksohn]
- amateur magazine : 1972 Hugo
1972
[ fan writer ]
- 1973 Locus/13
Energumen [MG & Susan Wood Glicksohn]
- amateur magazine : 1973 Hugo W
1975
[ letterhack ]
- 1976 FAAn W
1976
[ fan writer ]
- 1977 Hugo
[ letterhack ]
- 1977 FAAn W
1977
[ letterhack ]
- 1978 FAAn W

Ullyot, Rosemary   — 2 nominations
fan writer : 1972
fan writer : 1973

FAN ARTIST - 1972

• Tim Kirk
• Alicia Austin
• Grant Canfield
• Wendy Fletcher
• Bill Rotsler

FAN WRITER -1972

• Harry Warner, Jr.
• Terry Carr
• Tom Digby
• Susan Glicksohn
• Rosemary Ullyot
• Bob Vardeman

1973 Fan Hugos:


AMATEUR MAGAZINE

• Energumen, Michael Glicksohn & Susan Wood Glicksohn
• Algol, Andrew Porter
• Granfalloon, Ron & Linda Bushyager
• Locus, Charles Brown & Dena Brown
• SF Commentary, Bruce Gillespie

FAN WRITER

• Terry Carr
• Charles Brown
• Richard E. Geis
• Susan Glicksohn
• Sandra Miesel
• Rosemary Ullyot

FAN ARTIST

• Tim Kirk
• Grant Canfield
• Bill Rotsler
• Jim Shull
• Arthur Thomson

1974 Fan Hugos

AMATEUR MAGAZINE (tie)

• Algol, Andrew Porter
• The Alien Critic, Richard E. Geis
• Locus, Charles Brown & Dena Brown
• Outworlds, Bill Bowers & Joan Bowers

FAN WRITER

• Susan Wood
• Laura Basta
• Richard E. Geis
• Jacqueline Lichtenberg
• Sandra Miesel

FAN ARTIST

• Tim Kirk
• Alicia Austin
• Grant Canfield
• Bill Rotsler
• Arthur Thomson

Many of those were due to Michael and/or Michael and Susan (Wood) Glicksohn.

More links of Mike's work are available at http://fanac.org/names-gl.html

Some include:

Aspidistra                                Archive                           FanHistorical Archive

AussieCon I Report                        Report                            AussieCon

AUSTRALIAN SF REVIEW (1st series)         Reference                         Fanzine Index

Canadian Fandom in the 1960s (GS)         Article                           Canadian History

Chicon IV - 1982 WorldCon - Photo ...     Report                            Chicon IV

Confederation Convention Report           Report                            ConFederation

DITTO                                     Fan Terms                         Dr. Gafia's Fan Terms

DUFF - Down Under Fan Fund - Winners

DUFF Ballot 2008   North America to ...

Fancyclopedia - Ditto Convention          Article                           Fancyclopedia III

Filght of the Kangaroo, The               Trip Report                       DUFF 1976

Kevin Smith, Mike Glicksohn, Jim ...      Photo                             Seacon '79
MagiCon (1992 Worldcon) Program and ...   Memory Book                       MagiCon

Mike Glicksohn & Susan (Photo by ...      Photo                             MidwestCon #43

Mike Glicksohn (Photo by Debbie ...       Photo                             Seacon '79

Mike Glicksohn and Susan Wood ...         Photo                             Canadian Fandom

Mike Glicksohn sitting on the ...         Photo                             MidwestCon #28

Mike Glicksohn talking with Bob ...       Photo                             Seacon '79

Mike Glicksohn with the '70s fan ...      Photo                             FanHistoriCon VIII

Mike Glicksohn, Steve Francis ...         Photo                             Rivercon

Mike Glicksohn, Steve Francis ...         Photo                             Rivercon

Opening Ceremony - in the audience ...    Photo                             Seacon '79

Panels - "Don't do any strange ...        Photo                             Chicon IV

Peter Weston at bat, Merv Binns ...       Photo                             Seacon '79

TAFF Publications and Stuff

Thanks                                    Compilation                       SFFY 10

THEN By Rob Hansen - Chapter 10 of ...    Fan History                       THEN

THEN By Rob Hansen - Chapter 11 of ...    Fan History                       THEN    

Zinephobic Eye, The                       Reference                         Fanzine Index

Fan GoH Mike Glickson on the train ...    Photo                             AussieCon

Flophouse?, The                           All-New Continuing Feature        SFFY 5

Here is a partially fitting memorial: http://efanzines.com/Energumen/Energumen15.pdf

And this video from 1.28.11, made because Mike couldn't be at ConFusion, the Ann Arbor science fiction convention he'd never missed before.

I liked Mike. We were never close friends, but he was always kind and friendly to me. I haven't seen him in decades, heard varying bits and pieces about his illnesses and battles with cancer for many years now.

I'll still miss him.  We'd not had any contact in decades, but he was a presence all over the sf fandom of my youth, a man who helped create much of the environment I grew up in, the culture that was so important to me for so long, and I'm very sorry he's gone.

RIP, Mike, and have a smooooth one with Bob Tucker.

More pictures of Mike here.  Worldcon Fan Gallery entry.

[A variant edition of this is crossposted on Facebook, readable to everyone; both of these may be revised, almost surely not identically.] [UPDATE, 3.21.11, 6:24 p.m.: there seems to be a glitch keeping the FB post, which should be readable by everyone, and which no one has before informed me was not, but which I was just informed wasn't readable by those not on FB, and have checked myself, found this to be true for at least the moment, haven't been able to figure out why, and thus am now warning you until I see that the problem/glitch/whatever has passed, that you may not find that link operable unless you have an FB account, or... beats me, until such time as I find that it's definitely working for all again; my apologies to all and anyone who may have been affected, and any resulting confusion; this is the first time in a couple of years of using FB that this has ever happened, so I'm guessing it's just a temporary glitch, but I'm obviously in no position to say.  Again: sorry about that!; these two posts are substantially the same, so mostly what you're missing are the many wonderful comments by other folks -- if those were visible anyway -- and a few minor variations.]

By Mike Glicksohn, a wonderful set of memories, and I'm... full of mixed emotion at rereading this, and realizing how I, too, have now been around for, gulp, about 40 years of activity in the sf field, even more than the 35 years Mike had when he wrote this, though Mike was understandably about 10,000 times justifiably more beloved than I am. But I couldn't identify more with those feelings of how one goes from awe at one's elders to finding that, hey, wait, I can't be an elder: I'm still just a kid!

And I've never been a thousandth the sf fan Mike was; I'm just...also older.  You should read this piece.

ADDENDA: Geri Sullivan. Mike Glyer.  Lots on Facebook and LJ and sff.net and all over.  I'll add some of the more substantive to both my posts as I catch them, when time allows, if I can.  People are encouraged to send me links, as always.

Some include:
http://www.soltys.ca/blog/2011/03/mike-glicksohn-r-i-p.html
http://t.co/uYq5xWd
http://cartoonhat.blogspot.com/2011/03/rip-mike-glicksohn.html?spref=tw
http://barondave.livejournal.com/279426.html

A ConFusion one-shot of great quality: 

A One-Hour, One-Shot Fanzine from ConFusion 31 2-3pm, January 22, 2005

ConFusion history.

Digressively: Geez, that ConFusion one-shot, which includes pieces by Lenny Bailes, mentions Diane Drutowski in Fred Haskell's (as he was then)  reprint piece, and, well, I could make a long list of Friends in it or part of it, reminds me of the 1977 ConFusion where I had a special ultra-cheap good-for-only-72-hours Greyhound bus ticket, and was lunatic to use it to go from NYC to Ann Arbor, MI, knowing I'd spend more time on the road than at the con.

Little did I know that that a massive snow storm would shut down the entire Ohio State thruway, and leave our bus and a couple of thousand stranded in -- was it Cleveland, or Cincinnati? -- where the Red Cross brought us cots and doughnuts and coffee, and I managed to get a phone call through from a phone booth (no cell phones in those days, children!) to the con suite, where someone desultorily took a phone call -- possibly Jack Chalker? -- and I later found that someone had scrawled a chalk message on a chalk board that "Gary Farber is trapped in a phone booth in Ohio in a blizzard."

Greyhound was nice enough to extend the ticket for a day.

Ah, yes, from that oneshot, and Fred Haskell's report of the time: 

Oh, yes, by Fred Haskell: "Gary Farber called later in the evening to say he was stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again in a bus terminal in Cleveland or somesuch."

Joe Haldeman writes on the FB iteration of this: 

This is what I wrote elsewhere --Our old friend Mike Glicksohn died today. He’d been ill with cancer for a long time, so no surprise. But always a shock, a blow. Our hearts are with Susan Manchester, whom he left behind, tonight.

A Facebook page about him notes that he published me before I was a professional, and it reproduces a page from his fanzine Energumen, with a poem and drawing I sent to him from Vietnam in 1968. I wasn’t much of a poet then, but the last couple of lines are poignant.

http://efanzines.com/Energumen/Energumen01_s.pdf

Gardner Dozois comments:

Poor Mike. I knew him mostly as a convention fan, when he used to hang out with me and Joe Haldeman and others at Disclaves and Midwestcons in the early '70s. A great guy. He'll be missed.

ADDENDUM, 11:40 p.m.: Taral Wayne remembers.

Also, apparently I didn't make it clear that Mike died earlier today; if he'd died on some previous day I'd have mentioned that.  He died at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time according to Robert Sawyer who put it on Facebook and tweeted it within the hour.

I've also neglected to say here that I know that I first met Mike at the Aussiecon party at Discon II, in 1974, when I had been reading and loccing fanzines for a couple of years, but had just missed going to Torcon II, the year before, because I was still young and neoish enough to wave goodbye, literally, to a car full of NYC fans driving off to it, without realizing, as I subsequently did, that I could have have squeezed in, and, in those days, found crash space, eaten cheap food, and not missed that wonderful Torcon I heard so much about, while I was still 14 years old.

In 1974 I was still neoish enough as a con fan, and all around, to be awed to be among my fannish elders, and it was still a couple of months before I started reading slush for Lou Stathis (unbeknown to Ted White, I think, until later), and was even more awed to be a Galactic Observer, very quietly leaning against the walls of that Aussiecon party, listening and watching as Mike Glicksohn, and Robin Johnson, and Leigh Edmonds, and Susan Wood, and Valma Brown, and Joe Haldeman, and so many others, conversed, played cards, told stories, and I just soaked it all in, learning what The BNFs Were Like, and that not incidentally, in those days, as in the many decades previous, so many professional writers, editors, agents, and artists started in fandom, and the field was so small, that while there were always some pros who came from outside, and, of course, many fans who were awed by various pros, it was perfectly common -- as it still is today to some extent in at least some circles -- for there to be no social or other distinction between "pros" and "fans" since so many people were both.

(They certainly mixed it up in fanzines, and had ever since the Forties, as well, while, of course, some did maintain a distinction separation, as Robert Heinlein very much did, while yet others I'll leave nameless were more, um, variable, depending upon who they had in mind -- as well they might.)

UPDATE, March 19th, 9:20 p.m., PST: Taral writes in email of his Strange Voyages CD of Energumen and other zines that: 

I wanted to point out, though, that I raised the cost of the CD to $20 plus $2 postage, even though I think it says $15 plus $2 on the disk.   The actual costs ended up being a little higher than I originally expected, due to lavish packaging of the content.  I doubt I'd do another with a label, for instance.

 UPDATE: March 20th, 2001, 7:18: a.m., PST: Mike Glyer reports Mike's memorial service:

A service of remembrance for Mike Glicksohn will be held at Windermere United Church, 356 Windermere Avenue, Toronto ON, at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday March 23. 

Also that: 

Sara Stratton, a family friend, has also sent out a preview of the announcement that will appear in the Toronto Star next week:

Michael David Glicksohn (“Honey”), born May 20, 1946 in Portsmouth, England, died March 18, 2011 in Toronto after a lengthy illness. Amazing husband of Susan Manchester, he will also be missed by brother Manning (Louissa) and nephew Ray (Mary Ellen), cousins Dale (Petra), Jo (Howard) and Abby, great-nieces Willow and Jade, cousins Alison Purdy and Kevin Purdy (Rosemary), step-mother Hilary, and by many, many good friends. Predeceased by his parents, Paul and Ellen (nee Mullane). Mike taught mathematics at Humberside Collegiate Institute for 34 years. He was involved in science fiction fandom for many years and won a Hugo Award for best fan writer. Each Memorial Day weekend for more than 25 years, Mike and his friend Michael Harper hosted MikeCon, which was attended by hundreds of friends and fans from across Canada and the U.S. A service of remembrance will be held at Windermere United Church, 356 Windermere Avenue, on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. In lieu of flowers or donations, Mike would probably appreciate it if you raised a glass to him.

 As Mike notes, the Star manages to get wrong which Hugo Award Mike won. It was the 1973 Best Fanzine Hugo:

Energumen ed. by Michael Glicksohn and Susan Wood Glicksohn

Best Fanzine

Winner:	Energumen ed. by Michael Glicksohn and Susan Wood Glicksohn
2	Locus ed. by Charles N. Brown and Dena Brown
3	Algol ed. by Andrew I. Porter
Runners-up:
	Granfalloon ed. by Ron Bushyager and Linda Bushyager
	SF Commentary ed. by Bruce Gillespie

Best Fan Writer

Winner:	Terry Carr
2	Susan Wood Glicksohn
3	Richard E. Geis
Runners-up:
	Charles N. Brown
	Sandra Miesel
	Rosemary Ullyot

Best Fan Artist

Winner:	Tim Kirk
2	William Rotsler
3	Grant Canfield
Runners-up:
	James Shull
	Arthur "ATom" Thomson

Gotta love newspapers when they get your obituary wrong.  No, I don't know where “Honey” comes from.  Anyone?

Yvonne Penney has also mentioned  asking permission to start a scholarship in Mathematics in his memory at the school where he taught."  Most  who commented there and on my Facebook variant of this, and elsewhere thinks it's a fine idea.  As I wrote: 

[...] so many of Mike's famous writer friends, and so many well-known folks, would want to help out, that I'm sure something real could be worked out so long as there are people at the school willing to work on it, and someone local who knows what they're doing who is the same, and similarly handle the legal and administrative angles, which can be, to be sure, time-consuming, involving, ongoing, and something that would be apt to be a commitment of, well, as many years as people are willing to work on making it last.

There are ways to start talking endowments, but then you really need to bring in a good tax lawyer, and so on. Raising the money really wouldn't be the harder part, I think, if you want to go long term, but even as a commitment for a few years, or 5 years, say, it would be a wonderful thing.

 Robert Sawyer suggests:

 Robert J. Sawyer

Absolutely those of us in fandom should honor Mike's memory. But should we perhaps consider doing it in a way that will immortalize Mike's fannish contributions -- such as, for instance, endowing a fanzine collection at the Merril Collection, or endowing CUFF in his name? He had hundreds of teaching colleagues and thousands of former students who knew him in a capacity we did not. They, too, will be moved by his passing, and may well choose to do something at the school he taught at for three decades. Rather than duplicate their efforts, I suggest we find a way to commemorate the aspect of Mike that WE knew about. :)

 I'm sure this will all be worked out in time.

Meanwhile, Mike's passing on has been commented on endlessly all over blogs, Facebook, LiveJournal, mailing lists, in endlessly more comment threads that I could list or be aware of or have access to, and I'm sure the same will be true in fanzines, and yet more comments and articles continue to pour in and will do so for years to come.

UPDATE,  3/20/11, 12:51 p.m, PST, more on memorial details.  Word comes on Facebook that:

Murray Moore is putting together a memorial oneshot in memory of Mike Glicksohn. He's doing it for Mike's memorial service on Wednesday, so please mail him material ASAP. The memorial oneshot contributions eddress: murrayamoore AT gmail dot com

Chris Garcia is dedicating the next issue of Drink Tank to Mike. Anyone who has any memories they want to share, send them to Chris at - garcia AT computerhistory dot org

Hania Wojtowicz has mentioned compiling a document for Susan listing as many Facebook and LiveJournal links and quotes as she can; I've suggested making this publically available and linkable. [Update: she says she will. When/where she'll draw the line, I have no idea.  Ruthlessly, I suppose. Probably in time for the Memorial Service.]

A memorial page by Mike's students:  

Humberside Collegiate Alumni Association

Remembering Mr. (Mike) Glicksohn  (1946-2011)

A service of remembrance will be held at Windermere United Church,
356 Windermere Avenue, on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m.

Student's will remember him as "Mr.", his colleagues and family as "Mike or Michael", either way, the perennial favourite math teacher to thousands, and friend or family to many will be missed dearly as Mike passed away March 18th, 2011.

Lots and lots of tributes there.


I'm trying to remember in more than semi-coherent fashion this speech Mike gave at the first Autoclave, at the banquet, in which he told a Harlan story (back when they were still friends, obviously), which had to do with, um, (NSFW), the punchline being how a dick fell off.  I wish Mike were around to remind me how it went.  I'm half tempted to call Harlan up and see if he's feeling forgiving of Mike, now, given his own feelings of mortality, and ask him if he remembers his own story he told Mike, or some version. 

I really am half-tempted, but not quite enough.  At the moment.  Besides, I'm sure Harlan will hear, and he'll do whatever it is he'll do. 

Meanwhile I'm pondering if I have any Mike stories of my own really worth telling, but I feel like I couldn't possibly have any that really aren't just variants of everyone else's.  Poker.  Snake.  Hair.  Locs.  Parties.  Smoothing.  Hat.  Parties.  Articles.   Mimeography.  Names of mutual friends, and his best friends.  Everyone else can tell them better.  The ones left alive, at least.

Also: Avedon Carol.

UPDATE, 3.22.11, 7:05 p.m., PST: Patrick Nielsen Hayden makes thoughtful remarks.  One:

I’m sorry that my initial relationship to him was really with a version of him that I made up in my head. I’m glad we both lived long enough to actually relate as human beings.

We all tend to have versions in our heads of people if they're not in front of us recently, and with enough time to know who they really are at a given time.  It's always a shame to miss out on relating to the actual person, and, I think, always a terrible thing when people die without ever having a chance to match reality with reality. Even letting years pass makes for lost years. I'm glad Patrick fixed things up with Mike eventually.  Age and the greater wisdom and perspective it can bring can sometimes help with such issues.

UPDATE, 3.25.11, 11:14 a.m., PST: Murray Moore: Glicksohn Memorial Service Report.  Excerpts:

 "Mike was a twinkly child. “I don’t know anyone who twinkled like Mike did,” Manning Glicksohn, Mike’s older brother by 16 months, said. [...] Love was a word spoken often during the memorial service. Manning said of his brother, “Mike had a deep belief in the reality of love. Mike embodied it.” Mike loved and helped others love. Also “Mike really knew who he was and he refused to be anyone else.” [...] “He was an incredible man, a beautiful man to so many, my dear husband. Not a day went by that we did not say I Love You to each other. And what else is there to say?”

Yes.  Read the Rest Scale: 5 out of 5.  Sad again.  But glad Mike was loved, and will be remembered.