We have lost a business associate and a friend. It is with sadness that we report that Nick Kondrats of Tekmar in Santa Barbara passed away last Wednesday the 13 th of January, 2010.
Nick, seen here on the right of the picture, finally succumbed to the cancer that he had been fighting for some time.
There are some people who, when they die, leave you wishing that you had had the opportunity to spend more time with them. Nick was such a person. I don’t know anyone who knew him who would not say that he was one of the kindest, most gentle, most caring, unselfish people that you could hope to meet.
Even if you had hardly known Nick at all and had only spoken to him for a few moments at say the Tekmar booth at the Long Beach Show, you would know what I mean. You would have been aware of it immediately. Chances are that if you had bought one of Tekmar’s spray adhesive applicators from him, you would have walked away with a couple of free gallons of adhesive for no other reason than that was just how Nick was. It might have driven his business partners crazy on occasion but that never deterred Nick from being Nick.
It has often been said that how someone relates to animals tells you a lot about their nature. I know of at least a few dogs and even a rescued bird or two who, if they could talk, could give us first hand accounts of Nick’s gentle, caring nature. I could add to their accounts by telling how once we knew that he had cancer, I would call to see how he was doing and he would instead want to know how I was coping with my cold. When he could have been preoccupied with his own health issues, he instead worried and cared about others. And he did so to the end.
We will remember Nick fondly. One of Margaret’s memories will always be how she and Nick made a point of getting together for oysters each year in Long Beach. For me, the above picture of a business meeting with Nick, Jim and Simon in Santa Barbara will always be an example of how business should be conducted – relaxed and casual, just the way Nick lived. If the rest of us are smart, we will let him be a lasting reminder to us that life is too short for it to be lived any other way.
Jim and Simon will carry on running Tekmar in Santa Barbara, Screenflex will continue selling Tekmar products in Canada, we will all continue to meet up at the Long Beach show once a year, oysters will continue to be eaten, and jokes will continue to be exchanged by email. But none of it will be the same without Nick.
