(July 26, 2014, Manila) This morning, Bea handed me a sketch of Mike holding a camera, drawn by Joyce Romero of our Creative Department.

Each year, our TeamAsia family celebrated Mike’s birthday with a caricature of Mike as the hero of whichever movie blockbuster was hot then.  The tradition was started a decade ago by our then Creative Director, Ritchie Baquirin, and was continued by the Creative Department. I bet the artists competed as to who would have the best caricature that year.

Like a little child, Mike looked forward eagerly to receiving the caricature, wondering weeks ahead what they would come up with for his birthday.  And when he got his gift, he would put it up on the shelf of honor to join the others.   There was always a lot of ribbing by visitors when they would see the collection:

Now displayed on what I call Mike’s wall of fame in the office, these caricatures, unspoken, tell me how much Mike was loved by our staff. He was a natural leader, a visionary who guided TeamAsia through the many challenges we had faced, embracing opportunities for expansion and growth, always with an eye to using technology for innovation, spurring everyone to be world class, and keeping firm values of doing the right thing always and giving back. 

He was great at motivating people, yet set the bar high for performance, beginning with himself. He was generous with his time, mentoring the staff, allowing them to make the mistakes that would make them better people.  No wonder they respected and loved him.

Mike as the kindly grandfather in UP who accompanies a chubby kid and his dog on a great adventure.

On his last birthday on earth, he was portrayed as the kindly grandfather who had just lost his wife whom he deeply loved and was very saddened, until a chubby little boy scout came and badgered him to buy his cookies.

I don’t know why but when I first saw that last sketch of Mike holding on to the colorful balloons as he swung up, up into the air, I felt a tug in my heart.  It seemed like he was saying good-bye to me.  I didn’t know that just eight months later he would be gone forever.

And now, here’s this sketch of Mike with his camera pointed at me, just as I remember him.

Is he telling me something?