Funny things about Eric: he signed his emails “Ericccccccccccc”. The level of stress he was under seemed to affect the number of C’s he would add. We think he just had too much energy to be contained in only the four letters of his name. In work he was always really serious, to the point of being pretty cranky when things weren’t going as planned. But outside of work he was charming, funny and liked to party. The first time most of the gang met Eric was the Sunday before he started work in our store. We were having the company picnic at our house and we invited Eric to join us. He jumped at the chance to meet the gang informally. I remember a lot of beer and ribs being consumed that day, and we were all friends by the end of the party.

When Eric was diagnosed with his cancer last Fall of 2003, his major concern was how he would be able to do his job. After his condition was stabilized and his chemotherapy began to show good results, he came back to work. Anybody who has ever called out sick with a head cold would have been in awe at Eric. Every other Wednesday he went to the University of Pennsylvania hospital to receive his chemo treatments and other testing. On Thursday he would be at work with his chemo bag in a fanny pack. Friday morning the home healthcare nurse would come to his home to remove the chemo bag and he would arrive at the store shortly thereafter. This was his (and our) routine right through April. At first, Eric didn’t want to wear his fanny pack around his waist, as he thought it looked silly. It took a couple weeks for practicality to set in and he buckled it on and dealt with it. Eric was never shy about his cancer, he told everybody who asked exactly what was going on. He went out to customer sites with the chemo bag on and never thought twice about it. After his vacation at the end of April, his treatments changed and he did not respond as well to the new regimen. We could tell he was sick, but he still continued to perform his job for as long as he could. We have never seen dedication like that in anybody we have ever known.

We have been sadly calling Eric’s best customers to let them know the news. One of them had the most wonderful comment, he said “we were blessed for the short time we had him, and now he is fixing the big computer in the sky”.

If that is true, Eric, can you please do something about this weather?

We miss you.
Your friends at MacOutfitters