on tuesday my uncle howard lost his battle to cancer. it’d been a long fight, through several rounds of lymphoma which he appeared to have beaten, but then finally, due to the intense treatments he had to endure, he contracted a form of chemo-induced (and resistant) leukemia that he could not overcome.

howard was a slightly mysterious but always warm and present member of the family. he was everything a good uncle should be: concerned, caring, earnest, genuine, interested and engaged in the twists and turns of an obligatorily dysfunctional family dynamic, and full of advice (especially on topics for which he may have been unqualified). also, like any good uncle he was begrudgingly happy to occasionally be the butt of a long-running joke, and wasn’t afraid to take strong or unpopular stances when he felt he was right (most of the time). he loved all things costco, especially the roast chicken. over the years he gave me several kitchen gadgets he saw on TV, when all i ever really ended up using was a chef’s knife. he was disappointed i never quite figured out what he was trying to explain to me about options trading, and i was disappointed, too. my brain doesn’t always work fast enough for quantitative things. he was happy enough that i bought a small amount of apple stock a while back, but stressed that buying options would’ve been better. i’m sure he was right, but i still don’t understand how it works.

being an uncle myself i will work hard to take the lessons i learned from my relationship with howard to my that with my own niece, willamina. most importantly, that i need to be there for her in her life, make sure my opinions are known, and trust her enough to take what she needs from them, the rest of the family be damned.

uncle howard was gracious enough to allow me to photograph him during several of his treatments, with the caveat that i also had to take an “after” picture once his hair grew back. the picture above is the “after” – after he was in remission from his first (or second?) round of lymphoma in 2008.

the photos below are the last ones i took of him, just a couple weeks ago, shaving with an electric razor in his hospital bed. when i suggested that now was the time to grow a beard if ever there was one he just smiled and kept shaving.

goodbye, uncle howard. thanks for everything.

you’re right, the sodastream was a really, really good idea.