Jon Barkan (1968-2007)

Jon Barkan, one of my digital media team mates at GCI, passed away last Thursday at the tender age of 39. His funeral is today in Atlanta. Since a lot of people have been coming to my blog after searching for “Jon Barkan” on Google I decided share some stories.

Jon called me a few times a week to “check in.” Our conversations started, almost religiously, with “how is the wife and kid…” His wife and three children meant the world to him, and he was always interested in my son’s latest developments and how my wife Jen was doing on “making another one”:). I loved his basketball analogy for parenting… He used to tell me “2 on 1″ is no contest… “2 on 2″ is a good game… “2 on 3″ is cheating! He loved — and bragged about — those kids so much. I have been thinking about them a lot the past few days, and I am sure you have, too.

Then we’d usually talk a little about work stuff… He was really proud of this project for Red Lobster. He did some amazing media work, traditional and digital, for Nike. He was an outstanding writer, and he loved writing. In fact, I “outed him” for his blogging on “The Barkan Dawg” on this blog (a lot of people have been reading that post the past few days). Jon always gave me a lot of positive feedback and knew how to pick me up on a tough day or during a tough meeting.

Finally, our call would end like a sports talk show — a former sports reporter with a deep love for hockey (he was thrilled to hold the Stanley Cup which he called “Lord Stanley” at least two times in his life), he was always totally plugged in to the sports scene which I loved. Every Thursday during football season Jon and I made some friendly bets. He never ever bet against my team. It was sort of an unspoken rule of his. He was a real gentleman. And, he took it pretty easy on me until the end of season when he usually won all his money back and more:). There’s a nice story about Jon with a lot of comments from his friends on Inside College Hockey.

I think you will hear about Jon’s gift for connecting with other human beings from a lot of his friends and family. He was a really special man, departed way too soon.

Quite a few people have asked me what they can do for Jon’s family. Jon supported The Davis Academy (7901 Roberts Drive, Atlanta, GA 30350) and American Israel Education Fund (980 Hammond Drive, ste 775, Atlanta, GA 30328). I am so happy for Jon that he visited Israel this Summer — he could not stop talking about that trip. He sent us twitters at especially poignant moments. My team is thinking about putting together a book of photos and messages for Jon’s kids — drop your e-mail in the comments section if you’d like to participate.

If Jon could send me a final message I think he’d say “hug Logan and Jen for me” and “get your heart checked.” I did a lot of hugging since last Thursday, and I’ve scheduled the appointment. Jon would like that.

11 December 2007 | jon barkan | Comments