For the third time in three years we're at this spot on a beautiful autumn day. You'd think I'd be getting used to this but each one has been harder than the one before.

My earliest memory ... not just of Dick but my very earliest memory ... is a group of people huddled around a new born baby ... me ... smiling and waving at me. But my focus was on another little person, not much bigger than, that someone was holding up. That other little person was waving and smiling just like the bigger people. He could even walk and talk like the bigger people.

Growing up, it was Dick who was the over achiever. He compiled a scholastic record that was second to none. It was the envy of his peers. It was the pride of our family.

On the other hand, I was deeply troubled. My grades were mediocre. My behavior was anti-social. Many ... perhaps most ... believe my troubles were the result of growing up in the shadow of an overachieving brother. I will dispel that myth right now ... once and for all. There are many factors behind my troubles but Dick was NOT one of them.

He was the best brother I could ask for. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He always stood by me when I was scorned by everyone else.

If anything, his overachieving hurt him more than it hurt me. It left him with a tragic addiction to having absolute admiration from his peers. Unfortunately, the real world is not a level playing field where everyone takes the same test and the one with the highest score gets the prize. People stealing the prize through finger-pointing, back stabbing, and deceit is too often the norm.

Dick made his greatest contribution as a medical researcher. But because of the pettiness of others, he could no longer abide that environment. Because of the pettiness of others, the world of medical research lost one of its greatest stars.

Yet throughout that entire ordeal, Dick remained an absolutely fantastic husband and father. The last time I saw him, he was bestowing the title of MD upon his daughter at her medical school graduation. A few weeks earlier, he'd seen his other daughter graduate from veterinary school. Since that time ... a little over a year ago at Sara's graduation ... there had been something I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him he no longer had anything to prove to anyone.

But I didn't know how. He was always the one giving me advice. He was always the one getting me through hard times. Still, I wanted to tell him before I die. Even though I'm younger, I've long believed he would outlive me. Yet of the family that lived all those years at 172 North Hampton drive, only I remain.

So I'll ask you to remember that of all Dick Meltzer's achievements, his biggest achievement of all was that he was such an excellent and exceptional father, husband, and brother.

Thank you.