My Father, Philip Rothman, was a serious man. While he could become interested in irony, and brought to smile by exaggeration, for him, his life was serious—and intensely focused: On taking care of himself and us, supporting the Jewish People, and his country. He rooted for every man, woman and child on earth, of every background, who was working hard, trying to improve his/her life or anyone who was an innocent victim. Philip Rothman was my role model in so many areas. He was my backstop, my rock, the foundation upon which I built my own character, ethics and morality. I will miss him always, but I have the good fortune to know that he loved me deeply and that he knew that I loved and adored him deeply.

“When I was 24, I met Richard Sheffield. One of eleven children, he was born and raised in Newark. Sheffield appeared to me (and to most people who met him) to resemble National Football League legend Jim Brown, and Hollywood icon, Cary Grant. I soon realized that Sheffield possessed the hard-won wisdom of the legendary Chinese war strategist Sun Tzu and the knowledge of the great Italian political strategist, Niccollo Machiavelli. Within months of meeting him, Sheffield (a father of 3 daughters) would tell the entire world, including all my family, his family, friends and strangers that I was his “son.” He became my second father and I became his son.

I first got to know Jack Drakeford as the young man that his best friend Richard Sheffield called his son; then as Jack’s student; then as his colleague at the top of Englewood’s government; then as a dear and devoted friend; and for the last 20 years of his life, as Jack’s younger brother whom he loved and who loved him dearly.