Tribute to a Friend

My childhood friend Bene -- short for Benedito and pronounced "Benny" -- died seven years ago this week, six weeks shy of his 40th birthday. I'm gonna do something I haven't done on this blog before, which is to repurpose something I wrote for the previous iteration of my blog, at DaveBrigham.com, with some editing.

Last year, this is what I wrote about him:

One of the most honest and upbeat people I've ever known, Bene fought cancer for many years, and even went into remission. But the...