Ronald Lewis "Mike" Taht, of Ocean City, NJ, passed away the morning of June 5th, 2012, after a brief illness. He spent his last days in the company and comfort of his family.Ronald was born March 17, 1936 to William Taht and Gladys Bloomer of Audubon, NJ. He is predeceased by parents and his brother William. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Beverly, by his brother Kenneth, sister-in-law Janet, sons Michael ("Dave") and Stephen, daughter-in-law Carolyn, granddaughter Natalie, nieces Laura and Linda, nephews Bill (Eileen), Brian (Linda),Ken(Wendy), and their children.
Ronald went to college at Rutgers, Camden, graduating with a degree in law. He served as a reservist between the Korean and Vietnam wars. Partnering with Robert K Bell in his real estate law practice in Ocean City, Ron was also county prosecutor for Cape May, and later served as the Municipal court judge for Ocean City, as well as later, Tuckahoe, NJ. He was instrumental in getting Ocean City’s community center built, as well as helping preserve the heritage of Ocean City.
He loved to fish, and golf, and was a marvelous chef. He loved fine wine and a good debate. After his health began to fail he started writing down his experiences, and had his opinions published both here on his blog and in the Cape Coral News-Press.
We will have two celebrations of his life in the coming months, the first will be in Ocean City sometime this summer, and in Ft Myers later this fall.
Dave notes: I will be keeping Dad's blog open for new posts for a (long) while to publish bits of his backlog as time allows. Please feel free to add your memories of him via the comments below on this post.
As I sat with dad in his final hours all the various religions' concepts of an afterlife went through my head.
ReplyDeleteAs he was rather agnostic overall (as am I) and as we have no sure knowledge of what happens to a spirit after death, it occurred to me that each of mankind's concepts of heaven had its features and flaws - dad was no musician, so seeing him playing a harp all eternity seemed ridiculous much as captain stormbringer discovered...
But, I thought he'd get a kick out of visiting *all* those afterlives.
Maybe, go fishing off a boat in the Elysian Islands, or go drinking mead in Valhalla, or go hanging out with 97 vestal virgins!
Of all these things, the one viewpoint I was sure of, the one thing I believe to be true
of an afterlife, such as it is, was this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE9dEAx5Sgw
That yes, we are all starstuff.
And it made me cry to think it through.
Ron was quick of wit, a man of subtle and sometimes not so subtle humor. A man who was well read and not afraid to voice his opinion. As a member of his book club, I will miss his ability to cut to the chase when it came to analysis of the books we read. We had some really great times at our "secret" book club meeting location....Hooters... and it just won't be the same without him. I will also miss his blogs. He had a keen sense of cutting through all the B.S. of politics and getting down to the core of the issues. He will sorely be missed by all of us who knew him to be a truly good person who valued his friends and family.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this and have reflected on it fo9r some time.
ReplyDeletelast will and testament free