The following was an e-mail sent to Xerox Business Services people and a few retirees in late February 2016 — a week or two after Diana’s death.
2001-May-20 -- (left to right) Jack Klasnic, Diana, Darryl --?--, Richard, John Drenes -- Country Gourmet, Sunnyvale
Many of you who might have read the bimonthly magazine, In-Plant Printer will probably recall the Consultant’s Corner columns written by Jack Klasnic. The cogent advice contained was written in so entertaining a way, i felt compelled to share it with many folks in XBS in the early 90s.
When i was at Hillview and PARC (1996-2002) Jack and i became friends by phone and e-mail -- eventually meeting in May of 2001. He did explain that he was far more interested in meeting Diana than me.
The two photos with this note were taken at the Country Gourmet in Sunnyvale. (Jack is wearing the dark Navy blue shirt, John Drenes, formerly of XBS and with Apple Computer since 1990, is wearing glasses and the black shirt. The gentleman with the white hair is a consultant Jack brought with him to do an assessment of one of the northern California University print shops.
For those of you who have not met her, the lady with blond hair is my wife, Diana, and I am the other one wearing a yellow shirt.
From 1997 to 2008 Jack would e-mail retorts to me every time one of my published letters to editors or other articles would be posted. Typically he’d tell how this or that could have been stated far more clearly in more concise terms so as not to put readers to sleep.
To meet or even speak with Jack on the phone, he seemed like a regular, no-nonsense blue-collar factory-type of assembly-line guy. He never gave any hint that he had a master’s degree in economics and that he studied contract and constitutional law.
Each year he would send hundreds of Christmas booklets to folks he had known and worked with over the years. Our copy would invariably have a post-it affixed to the front or rear cover, telling Diana “be careful not to let Richard out of his cage too often” or something light-hearted to that general effect.
From the time Diana suffered her stroke (3 November 2015) and spent a week in the hospital until 7 December, Jack e-mailed or phoned nearly every day offering encouragement.
On 3 December, Jack quoted his old law professor, Judge Watkins. That, in turn, reminded me of a story an old family friend told Diana and me back in 1988 about testimony my dad (he was an autopsy surgeon) gave in a murder trial decades earlier that led to the conviction of a defendant represented by Melvin Belli.
Four days later, Jack responded to that e-mail: “Imagine Belli losing! Dr. Kade was really sharp! So much for the laws of heredity.”
My reply to Jack, 15 minutes after he wrote me, began, “Loved you crack about heredity. Good one!” and ended by telling him how, having to sit around and wait, uselessly, for the drugs pumped into Diana to work their way out of her system was one of my toughest experiences ever. The last sentence was, “Bottom line, I sit just inches away from her and am both the luckiest and loneliest guy around.”
Not quite 90 minutes later, Jack sent what I never imagined would be his final note to me. He wrote:
“BOTTOM LINE” WAS BEAUTIFULLY STATED. THAT’S IT! DON’T YOU DARE DISAGREE WITH ME ON THAT STATEMENT!
Glad you enjoyed the humor on heredity!
Jack!
His 2015 Christmas booklet arrived 17 December. Finding no post-it on the front or back, I flipped through quickly causing a small slip of paper, inserted by the printer, to drop to the floor bearing the sad news that Jack died on the 12th, not quite a week after our last e-mail exchange.