Hi, I am Kevin Rudy and I was Mike's manager at OpenText. Many of you have known Mike much longer, but in just the last 6 years, I have been blessed to be able to call Mike not just my colleague, but also my friend. So over the next several minutes, I am going to share what Mike meant to me and what he meant to many others at OpenText. I hope my words will honor his memory and his legacy.
The first time I met Mike was during my phone interview for my current position at OpenText in the Maryland office. I was very impressed with Mike, and I took the job partly because I knew I would have a solid leader working for me.
Once I started at the company, Mike was the person who helped me the most, to ramp up quickly. I relied on him so much and he was always willing to spend whatever time was needed to help me learn the complexities of the business. I would not have been successful without Mike's support.
So how would I describe Mike... Well as I thought about that, a handful of words came rushing into my mind. See if these words resonate with you: Smart, Humble, Passionate, Positive, Organized, Caring, Loyal, Hard Worker, Quiet Fighter. And as I wrote these words down, I was reminded of a Bible verse from Galatians 5:22 which says "The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." So Galatians says that these are the character qualities of a person who has the Holy Spirit in him. Do these words not describe the Mike Allegra that we all know and love? …I think they do.
So how do Mike's other colleagues feel about him. Well I asked them and here are some of the descriptions I received:
- words like…pleasant, friendly, nice, kind, polite, big hearted, great smile, wonderful person, good friend
- and more like…genuine, relational, compassionate, caring, helpful, patient, good listener, easy to talk to
- but also…calm, steady, poised, composed under stress
- and… knowledgeable, committed, professional, passionate…and someone stated that "they will miss his guidance terribly"
- even his colleagues in India sent me input where they described his cherubic face, and his polished and cultured manners (not sure where they got that impression)
- and his colleagues in Brazil described him simply as: Adorable; Crazy, lived life to the fullest (hang-gliding in Brazil);
Clearly, Mike was a well-respected, and dearly loved colleague and friend!
So one word showed up consistently from many people...that word was Caring! Mike truly cared for all his colleagues but he especially cared for the team that worked for him. He would constantly talk about their successes and defend them to me when things did not go perfectly (which happens a lot in the software business). He genuinely cared for his employees and many of his best friends were people he worked with – many of whom are here today.
Mike also cared deeply for his family. During our weekly 1-1 conversations after we finished with our business topics, we usually got around to sharing what was happening with our families. I also have 2 daughters and a son that are almost the same ages. In fact this past summer, the kids got to meet each other when we were vacationing down here. Well, I love talking about my kids and Mike did also. He just beamed when he talked about them growing up – he was so proud of each of them. And Mike and I often talked about how blessed we both were to have such loving and caring wives (…who also kept us in line sometimes when we needed it). Mike was so thankful to have Beth by his side through this trial, and she was a rock of support through it all.
I also described Mike as a Hard Worker and Quiet Fighter. I knew I could always count on Mike no matter what. He fought this nasty disease so valiantly, and I only hope that I would stand as strong and bravely as he did. He worked full time until just a few weeks ago. He wanted to do as much as he could and to make sure his staff was taken care of. Even though he was very sick and very weak recently, he even wrote all his staff's yearly performance appraisals and delivered several of them.
Well over the last few months, Mike and my conversations got a little more serious and we started to talk more in depth about our faith. We talked about what we believed, what we thought heaven was going to be like, and how people would remember us. We also discussed several verses such as John 3:16 which says that God sent his son to this world not to judge us, but to love and save us. And Ephesians 2:8-9 which says that we are saved by God's free gift of grace through our faith in him. And also Romans 10:9 that says that to accept this free gift, we just have to profess that Jesus is Lord and believe that he was raised from the dead.
The last time that I talked to Mike was his last day of work just a few weeks ago. I gave him his performance appraisal (which was glowing of course), and we talked about all that he accomplished over the years. We both knew it was the last time we were going to speak to each other, and there were tears being shed on both ends of the phone. We talked about the verses again and Mike said that he knew that Jesus died for him and that Jesus was his Lord. At the end of the call, we prayed together and then I told him that I loved him and we hung up.
You know I especially cherished each minute of the last few conversations I had with Mike because I knew he was dying and my time with him was short. But you know what, we are all in the process of dying. Whether that process ends in 80 years, 80 days, or 80 minutes, we are all dying. So are we living our lives like we are dying?
Just last week, I heard a pastor speak about what he would be doing if he knew these were his last moments? What would he preach on if he knew this was his last sermon? He decided he would have to preach on the incredible love of God. God loves us more than we can ever imagine. He says so in verses like Romans 8:39 where he states that nothing can ever separate us from his love, and 1 John 4:8 that proclaims that God is Love.
So we know that Mike is loved by God. But we also know that he is in a better place now, in no more pain and in the very presence of God. 2 Corinthians 5 says that when we leave these earthly bodies we will have perfect heavenly bodies and we will be at home with the Lord. So Mike is with God now, and…. knowing Mike, God probably has him on some special assignment using all those QA and testing skills he developed in this life. Right QA team?
So I started a few minutes ago by talking about honoring Mike, and I'll close by asking how can we remember and honor the life that Mike lived?
I would suggest three ways that we can live out the rest of our lives in order to honor Mike's life:
#1: We should live life knowing that, just as God loves Mike, God loves each of *us* immensely and unconditionally.
#2: We should spend each day loving and caring for everyone we meet, just like Mike so perfectly modeled for us.
#3: We should live each day like we are dying. I challenge all of us to mend broken relationships today, to say I'm sorry, thank you, and I love you more frequently, to help and encourage others, to give more hugs (I'm a hugger), and finally to live with eternity in mind.
I think if we lived this way, we would all honor Mike's memory and legacy. Thank you for the opportunity and privilege to share with all of you.
Love you Mike.
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