The Piece I Wrote About Matt Halpern that I sent Around the Firm (Ryan)

My interaction with Matt lasted for only about 30 minutes, and took place in the Marriott pool in Hilton Head at 6 in the morning on the Saturday that he died. Given the short amount of time that I knew him, I mean no disrespect to those who knew Matt for a long time in posting this tribute, but believe I caught a precious glimpse of the man you all know him to be in the few minutes I spent with him. I entered the Marriott pool with sleepy eyes at 6 a.m., tired from the night before, but desperate to fit in a workout before my kids awoke to demand my attention. I was alone at the pool until the pool sweeper arrived to suck up the previous day’s sand left at the bottom of the pool. Five minutes after that, I saw feet in the lane adjacent to mine, and surfaced to see whose they were. With a warm grin, a man thrust his hand towards me: "Matt Halpern from Long Island. Beautiful morning for a swim, huh?” Together we looked at the sun rising over the ocean, but before I could respond, the pool sweeper yelled at Matt and said "You can't swim right now." "Why not?" Matt asked incredulously. "Because I have to sweep the pool. I'm only letting him (pointing towards me) swim because he got here before me," the pool sweeper replied. Matt grinned from ear to ear and, in lawyerly fashion and good-natured tone asked, "Well, can I swim until he's (pointing towards me) done?" The pool sweeper agreed, and I then introduced myself to Matt. Matt asked me how much longer I planned to siwm, and I asked him how long he wanted to swim. “About 25 minutes,” he replied. "Then I'm going to swim for about 25 more minutes,” I said. Matt smiled at me, and we both pushed off the wall to swim, side by side, under the watchful eye of the pool sweeper and the glow of the rising morning sun. When we finished our laps, Matt and I stood in the shallow end and Matt enthusiastically began to share stories about Long Island, the firm, his AAP practice, and about Mickey Silberman (the managing partner of the Denver Office where I am an associate). Matt told me he had been at the firm 22 years, and that he hoped to retire someday as a Jackson Lewis attorney. He went on to say that the firm really was the family that the speakers at the meeting the day before bragged it was, and that weekends such as the one in Hilton Head would prove that to me. Matt's love for the firm and the practice of law was clear. Matt then told me that he was leaving the weekend a day early to return to his family, that his three children were off to summer camp (Camp Tioga in Pennsylvania, I think he said). Matt answered my questions about his kids in great detail, and gloated about his wife: I could tell he loved them deeply. Then Matt asked me several probing questions about the half-Ironman training I was doing, and seemed more interested in it than my own friends and family often are. And then when the pool sweeper guy meandered by us, Matt stopped him and peppered him with questions about his sweeping device, asked him why he didn't have a self-propelled one, and educated him as to their benefits. I couldn't believe how much Matt knew about pool sweeps as he continued on in intricate detail about how the wheels turned the gears to create a vacuum seal, and why the Marriott should invest in a different kind of sweeper. By then, Matt's sharp wit, keen mind, and engaging nature were readily apparent to me: here was a longstanding, highly regarded partner from Long Island who acted like the highlight of his day was talking to a young associate from Denver and the pool sweeper guy. Simply put, Matt could not hide his love for life and people. As we left the pool, Matt embraced my hand, looked me in the eye, and said "Welcome to the firm, Ryan. I’ll see you around." I cherish Matt's welcome and, although my time with him was short, grieve his departure. He so obviously had much more to give, but left his mark on those who knew him, however briefly.