My dear sweet funny rock and rolling Matza Ball. How many. Concerts have we seen together? I have all the ticket stubs. You are a very special gift to me. After losing my husband and wanting to meet someone interesting fun and a Beatle lover,,,,, ; there you were on pof. We wrote to each other in Beatle lyrics for quite some time then met at a concert.

You are sweet genuine funny and caring. You introduced me to your friend family and kept me up to date with all their adventures. I had my first martzaball with you. I never called you MIKE. always MATZ.

You are a very dear friend to me. I am glad you are recovering ...many places to go and things to do.


Zoey

Mike

This is a photo of Mike and me in happier times. We had dinner with my daughter and her husband at Foxwoods. Mike is such a kind, caring, generous person. It has been fun chatting with him, and listening to the endless stories that he had to tell. I have not known Mike for as long as some of you, but it feels as though I have known him forever. We share a love of dogs. Mike joined me on a  rescue mission to save an  abused dog  in New York a year ago. His compassion for both animals and humans is endless. I am so happy that I got to know Mike. I am saying prayers and sending positive thoughts his way. God bless, Mike.

Susan, Mr T and Teddy

Hi from Joy.  Last weekend, Janet and I were caringly looking through Mike's possessions.  Among the things we found that were very poignant and meaningful to me were music notation books with Mike's songwriting notes--we both write songs--and the tallit (prayer shawl) Mike wore at his bar mitzvah. It was neatly wrapped in a small blue velvet parchment bag with his initials "M.G." in yellow gold lettering.  I decided then and there to wear it every Friday night this year that I go to my synagogue.  Here is a photo of me wearing it yesterday right before I left for services.

Also it is my intention to write new songs in the same music composition book that Mike used, thereby sharing music through time and space.
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My name is Adam Roberts. I met Mike in 1988 at a poker game in a Brooklyn synogogue :). In the now 25 years I have been in and around the poker world, I have rarely socialized or became friends with anyone. Mike was an exception, and an anamoly in that environment. I have always found him to be incredibly honest, straightforward, and trustworthy. Mike was also a big influence in shaping the way I learned how to be successful as a poker player.
A good friend and devoted son, Mike has always been someone I enjoyed speaking to and spending time with, although those dissipated somewhat after I migrated to the west coast. We had similar views on life, society, humor, music, etc....but most importantly had the same integrity and values, which unfortunately didn't serve either of us as well as it should have.
I am happy that I was able to help Mike secure some work between 2002-2006, jobs though he never accepted.
Although I am hoping that Mike will get to read this, I know that he has always known how I felt about him, and I cherish that.

My name is Janet, and I am Mike's self-appointed bossy older sister.  I'm not sure whether I adopted Mike and his mother, Sylvia, back in 1989 or whether it happened the other way around, but they became family to me. 

Drawn by the opportunity to play poker at Foxwoods Casino, Mike and Sylvia began an extended weekly stay at the small hotel that I managed in Plainfield, Connecticut.  This went on for months and provided the basis for a friendship that has endured for decades.  We were together for their initial move from Brooklyn, NY to Uncasville, CT; Mike's stint as a poker dealer with Mohegan Sun; another apartment move to Norwich; through my divorce and remarriage; the pain of Sylvia's death; Mike's solo move to a smaller Norwich apartment; and onward to today with the current grim state of Mike's health. 

I promised Sylvia in her last months that I would take care of her son, and I stand ready to come alongside him to bring support in the days ahead.  My husband, son, and extended family members all know the strength of my friendship with Mike, and although they aren't quite sure why it exists, they accept it without question.  He is the brother of my heart, and my dear friend.  My life has been blessed by having Mike and Sylvia Gordon in my life.

Joy here: It's February 21, 2013, and I've been thinking of Mike pretty constantly as he holds on in the Critical Care division of Bacchus Hospital in Norwich, CT.

Friends who did not know Mike ask me about him.  How do you sum up the quintessential qualities of Mike--someone so wonderfully unique in this world?  Here are some of the things I say:

Mike is:
- the sweetest man I've ever met.
- the most caring and supportive friend I've ever had. If I had a dream, he had it too.
- a vacation. You know how people go on vacation to Puerto Rico or Aruba, to get away from the day-to-day of their lives, relax, laugh, and enjoy.  That was being with Mike--we'd talk nonstop excitedly about music and games, he'd tell great stories, he'd make me laugh--I'd forget all about so-called "real life" because connecting to him WAS real life.
- the most connected friend I ever met--not just to me but to all of his friends.  I feel that I know all of you who read this because Mike spoke of you, shared your lives, with me, because your lives were his; all he ever wanted to do was to make his friends happy

How would you describe Mike?