Tragedy In Paradise

I can now say, sadly, that someone I have known personally has been murdered.

I received word today through a network of old friends that a former colleague and his wife were killed in their home couple of days ago. He was an attorney at the firm where I started my career. I never worked directly with him, but I knew him a little bit through firm events. He was very intense and by all accounts a very good lawyer. I will always remember the moment when he told me, only partly in jest, that if you don't make the witness cry during a deposition, you haven't done your job correctly. Despite his professional ferocity, he was also memorably playful with the kids of the firm's personnel.

Even when I knew him more than 10 years ago, he had a very firm idea of what he wanted for his future. He lived simply, even though he was presumably making pretty good money as a high-hours partner in a large law firm. He told everyone who would listen that he was putting away as much money as he possibly could toward his retirement. It turns out that he had begun to realize his dream. He recently relocated from Fresno to Santa Barbara where he had built a home overlooking the ocean. The firm even followed him there, allowing him to open an office in town.

Unfortunately, that's where the story begins to unravel, it seems. According to published reports, his brother, who was involved in building the house, is under arrest for the murders. The two brothers were in a dispute that ended up in court over the construction of the house.

There is probably a hard lesson to be learned about hazards of focusing too intently on goals, but that's for another day.