Ralph W. Liebing's Passing

Archive of Older Topics Archive Coffee Pot and Water Cooler
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This was originally posted elsewhere and I thought it appropriate here:

Posted by Robert W. Johnson on Thursday, February 13, 2014 - 02:19 pm:

Some of us have received this message:

I am writing to you in Ralphs absence. My name is Tom Hellman and am
his immediate supervisor at Hixson. It is with sadness that I inform
you of Ralphs passing on 2/9/13. He was a great associate and even
better man. As I look through his contacts and recent emails, I am
trying to pass this sad news on to all those in the industry that
regularly correspond with Ralph. If you could please pass this along
to those you know that also knew Ralph I would greatly appreciate it.
If you should have any questions of me, please do not hesitate to
email me at thellmann@hixson-inc.com

I am also attaching a link to his obituary that also includes his
final arrangements.

http://www.boltonandlunsford.com/obituaries

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Thanks, Colin. We’ll miss his insights.

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R.I.P. Ralph
We banged heads a few times, but you were a great mentor, your insight will be sadly missed.

4

Ralph will be sorely missed. I always looked forward to his lively pokes in the Perspective each week. And his email at the end of the week to start my weekend.
Prayers to his family for peace.
Margaret

5

ditto to what has been posted already. I need to process before I write more.

6

Man what a shock. There was not a hint of any ill health in his weekly Perspectives articles, other than a few comments about the cold weather! Ralph’s commentaries and viewpoints will be greatly missed. His knowledgeable, passionate, prodigious writing and frequent call to arms in defense of our industry is irreplaceable. His return to heaven is a great loss to all of us left behind.

7

Ralph was a true gentleman who spoke his mind and backed up his thoughts. He made our profession better and helped many of us be better people and better Specifiers.

He will be sorely missed. My thoughts are with him; my prayers go to his family.

8

Ralph had some bouts with cancer in the past. I know this because when my wife was terminal, Ralph offered his thoughts from his experiences.

9

When ever Ralph would work on a job in Florida, he would send me an email, with a query, and although I never did any work in Cincinnati, I usually sought out his help from time to time.
Here is an example of our repartee from a 2008 email never posted on 4specs:
"…u know Ralph, you apologize too much.
although we have never met and may not meet anytime soon,I consider u a friend.
an old friend.
a very, very, very old friend and mentor.
i learn a lot from my very old friends and mentors.
though u must be a tad bit blind, cause handsome i am not, except in my wife’s eyes.
so apology accepted you old fart.
and since laughter is the best medicine, let’s hope this does not offend:

An 75-year-old man goes for a physical. All of his tests come back with
normal results. The doctor says, “Ralph, everything looks great. How are
you doing mentally and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?”

Ralph replies, "God and I are tight. He knows I have poor eyesight, so
he’s fixed it so when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom,
poof! the light goes on. When I’m done, poof! the light goes off.

“Wow,that’s incredible,” the doctor says.

A little later in the day, the doctor calls Ralph’s wife (girlfriend or significant other). “Ethel,” he
says, "Ralph is doing fine! But I had to call you as I am in awe of his
relationship with God. Is it true that he gets up during the night and
poof! the light goes on in the bathroom, and when he’s done, poof!

the light goes off?

“Oh my God!” Ethel exclaims. “He’s peeing in the refrigerator again!”

BTW Ralph - u still owe me an order of Skyline Chilli!!!

10

Ralph will be greatly missed indeed. A good time to get out his books & read them again. I need to get his new book “The Other Architecture” - this sounds like just what the profession needed…Ralph how did you know?

11

A sad day for everyone who knew Ralph and admired him for his modesty, his vast knowledge and his willingness to share it. Wednesdays won’t be the same without his Perspectives column.

He was a true gentleman.

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In 2009, Ralph wrote a “Proposal for New Initiative by CSI” in which he stated that CSI is the “sole organization that has access to, and inherent expertise in, both specifications and drawing production”. A group of CSI members, referring to ourselves as a grass-roots group, grew from that concept. And ultimately, the idea of a CSI-driven educational program to teach the basics of construction evolved.

I’m not quite sure how our relationship changed over the next 4-plus years, but it did. It became a friendship reaching beyond CSI colleagues. Ralph was a member of an email prayer chain that I manage and responded to many requests with words of encouragement and confidence in the power of both prayer and God.

His wry sense of humor, his sometimes sarcastic comments, his trust in his fellow humans to want to do good, his wisdom and knowledge which ranged beyond construction, and perhaps most of all, his undying and unlimited friendship, will be deeply missed.

Ralph was one of those rare people; he didn’t GET old, he simply GREW old he aged, but kept the wonder, joy, and enthusiasm of childhood. Be with God, my friend, 10,000 years and more. See you.

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Ralph was one of my biggest “cheerleaders.” I never met him in person, but I miss him. My latest blog post is about Ralph, and CSI: http://lizosullivanaia.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/cheerleaders-mentors-colleagues/

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I Thought about Ralph today, I was on my way to see my daughter and I passed a Skyline Chilli Restaurant, one of 2 we have in South Florida. Several years ago Ralph sent me a can of skyline chilli and a bag of soup crackers, as a thank you for helping him out on a spec, though he suggested I try Skyline Chilli from a restaurant. Today turned out to be the day. It was much better than what I sampled from the can. I was on my way to see my daughter to tell her the bad news I received early this morning that my twin brother and her only uncle, Asher had passed away suddenly in a Jerusalem hospital. Except for the meat portion of the chilli, my brother would have approved as he was a macrobiotic - crazy vegetarian to the max and a religious fanatic.
Although I never met Ralph, he reminded me of my brother, both were stubborn old men (like me) who became mentors, I had not seen a picture of my brother in 14 years (religious fanatics won’t let you take their pics), still have no idea what he looked like, except I was told he looked much older than his 60 years of age. I’ve never seen a picture of Ralph either, even though I have scowled the Intrernet. Is there a correlation there? I doubt my brother and Ralph shared any similarities, but when ever I think of my brother, I’ll think of the heartburn I am experiencing right now, and I’ll think of Ralph, somehow that makes sense to me.

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Jerry, my sympathy for your loss. And thanks for sharing the memories of Ralph. He was as interesting in person as he was in his writings. I always looked forward to chatting with him at the conventions he was able to attend.

If you are intersted in seeing a picture (although your mental image is maybe too precious), you can find him on this web page:

http://eo2.commpartners.com/users/csi/category.php?cat_id=57

Scroll down for his webinars on fundamentals of specifications.

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Jerome, SCIP posted a brief tribute to Ralph, with photo, on its website at www.scip.com.

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Thanks guys, its good to put one memory to rest.

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Jerry, my condolences. I can’t imagine losing one of my brothers, though I did consider helping them along on several occasions when we were much younger.

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I had great difficulty sleeping the morning my twin died, perhaps we were spiritually connected even though we were so far geographically apart. Thanks for your condolences Ken, how many brothers do you have may I ask?

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BTW, Ralph, I suppose you are looking down at us as we write…I enjoyed eating Skyline Chilli, it took me a long time to eat the ‘real’ stuff, but it was tasty, however you finally got back at me for all the old fart jokes, cause the heartburn is still with me, next time I will carry the antidote before ingesting. It was good chilli, definitely a future meal, next time I will have to try a 3 way as you originally suggested, maybe the heartburn will be less?
RIP Ralphie