The Primack Times

April 2003

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IT IS WITH DEEP SADNESS THAT WE ANNOUNCE THE PASSING OF MIKE ENGEL ON APRIL 13, 2003


Mike is survived by his adoring wife, Linda, and two loving daughters, Gayle LaTulippe and Jennifer Engel Primack. He is also survived by a brother, Melvyn, and two grandchildren, Haley and Eli LaTulippe.


Mike will be dearly missed by all who knew him. He was a family-centered, straightforward, humanitarian, and loving man.

People usually pass away in character. Mike was no different. Family members and friends assembled in the hospital, knowing that he would soon be gone. But that is when, in a last display of selflessness, he gave us a gift. He stayed with us overnight, hanging on just long enough for us to be together and to share with each other what he had taught us through the years. During those hours, of both grief for a loss and celebration of a life, we heard his voice tell us four things for the last time.

“Call me Mike, not Mister Engel,” we recalled him saying, throughout his life to children, and later to the adoring nurses who were assigned to help him through chemotherapy. He taught us the beauty of the simple, the direct, and the unpretentious. He taught us that common sense and decency can be wiser and more powerful than technology and hype.

We heard him say of those we did not understand, “Be tolerant. That’s just their way.” He taught us what the bible echoes: “To each according to his need, from each according to his ability.” He taught us to appreciate those around us for who they are, and to be understanding of their inevitable faults. As a powerful civil rights and human rights activist, he taught us to try our best to think of others, and when we do not understand them, to appreciate them anyway.

We heard him tell us to “be positive” and always to “look ahead, don’t look back.” Somehow he maintained this even over the past six months, through failing chemotherapy, through facing the unknown, and through significant pain. He knew that only by seeing his modeled behavior would we be able to see through our pain at the loss of him and to do what he would want us to do: to look ahead and continue to live our lives with hope

And we heard him give a final reminder: “The most important thing is family.” This he repeated throughout his life and into his last week. Everyone here today is his family. Let us pay our tribute to Mike by doing as he says, and remembering our commitment to each other. Thank you Mike, for your life, and for your last gifts of wisdom to us.

Love, Your Family