To all who knew and loved Sebastian:

This is an extremely difficult thing for me to write—with a broken heart I regretfully share the news that my beloved Sebastian passed away peacefully on April 19th, surrounded by his loving family: myself, our daughter Sacha, our son Louis, our daughter-in-law Veronica, and our granddaughters Zianna, Zofia and Luna. He adored his family and always stood nearby as proud as any husband/father/grandfather could be.

Sebastian, an honorable man, believed in the importance of truth and doing the right thing—and lived up to those principles. He came from such humble beginnings and remained humble to the end. He taught himself everything he knew, learning from life and from the books he devoured. A man with many talents and areas of knowledge… yes, a renaissance man to the end.

The loss of my dear, dear Sebastian is greater than we imagined. The many kind words describing Sebastian from the many people who knew him will be with me forever—such superlatives of the highest levels. He made an impression on people even on their first meeting. He was a force of nature. Many feel the loss, as he was a very powerful and kind man, with a big heart and a great mind.

Sebastian’s mind was his gift to us. Just ask anyone lucky enough to have been in his company and listened to him speak. He shared his amazing thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs. He said many times, “You can open your mind or have it cease to grow and become stagnated.”

I will have Sebastian by my side forever. With everything I say or do, I will see his smile. Ours was a love that had a profound connection. For me, it was love at first sight and for him he said “I don’t know what hit me” and that was on March 3, 1963. On June 4th we will have shared 56 years of marriage—it may sound like a long time and it is, but we still continued to learn from each other every day.

I will continue to hear him and learn from him, forever more.