On a bright sunny New Year’s Day 2015, we lost our long-time friend and colleague Dennis Moser.
Dennis had been battling a recurrence of cancer – undergoing treatment to battle the disease following the appearance of new symptoms at Thanksgiving.
I remember seeing him in the office just before Christmas – as he was about to complete his last round of radiation therapy. While tired from the treatments, he was as optimistic as ever that this was just going to be a brief battle.
When we heard the news of his passing just a few days later, we were stunned.
Dennis and I have worked together for over 40 years – having first met as IBMers in San Francisco early in our working careers. We both ended up later at Visa – and, ultimately, working together more closely as partners at Glenbrook. Our wives have had a similarly lengthy friendship over these many years.
A good friend, upon learning of Dennis’ passing, commented: “Dennis was one of the truly nice people I’ve known.” Indeed, everyone who has known Dennis must share that feeling – he was an optimist, a very hard worker, one who wanted and did add real value to whatever he was doing.
I remember Dennis also for his passion for reading – he was always quick to ask: “Read any good books lately?” to which I’d typically stumble trying to come up with something I actually had read and could recommend. Mostly, I just said – not really, how about you? – to which he’d always have a couple of great recommendations! I remember him most recently recommending “The Martian” as a recent favorite of his. It’s now on my Kindle and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it based on his recommendation – his recommendations were always the best!
They say with age comes some modicum of wisdom – but it’s still so hard when death of a colleague comes so out of the blue. I know Dennis would want us to remember the good times – and we’ll do that for sure. Meanwhile, we keep Dennis, his wife and daughter in our hearts and minds.
If you knew Dennis, we’d welcome you sharing some of your memories of him in the comments below. He was a very special friend and colleague – and we’ll miss him dearly.
