It’s difficult to convey what JP meant to me in just a few sentences. He was an incredibly important professional mentor to me, affording me autonomy and empowering me early in my career. We had many hilarious (and stressful) professional experiences over the years. My favorite was a trip to London in which my 5’5” self raced across cobblestone streets in heels in order to keep up with JP who seemed to be sauntering from meeting to meeting. Fortunately, we stopped at many a pub – allowing me to catch my breath
Closer to my heart and for many years after our professional relationship ended, he was a dear friend. We shared quite a few inside jokes, usually at the expense of one or the other of us – including his incessant reminders about the time that I popped into his office with two different shoes on. I sat right outside his office and had a habit of taking my shoes off under my desk and when he called me in abruptly from time to time, I occasionally slipped on the wrong shoes. For some reason he found this hilarious and it became an inside joke between the two of us for more than a decade. In fact – the last thing I texted him was a twitter post about professional women with mismatched shoes and a picture of me in two different shoes.
JP was so important to me – and also to my husband, Abdul – that we asked him to officiate our wedding (yes – it did become “his thing”). JP prepared a beautiful, personal and meaningful speech and helped make it a truly special ceremony.
It breaks my heart that JP was taken from us so young and way too soon, but I feel tremendously fortunate to have had him in my life for such a long time.
My deepest condolences to Millicent, John Quincy and Emma.
Rest in peace John. You are well-loved and will live on in our hearts.
