I know many men with faults. Most men I know tend to have a habit I cannot praise. But to find no faults in a man is rare and hard. And that is what I found in Thamer Salman. But Thamer passed away 10 hours ago.
Thamer was so good. He was the guy who had it all and could've carried himself very differently but he didn't. He was smart and funny and successful and cultured and curious. He was wonderful.
Thamer is probably the only man I ever knew that was endearingly competitive. He litreally mastered everything he attempted. From fly boarding to DJing. He was a natural polymath.
Thamer was also very kind and generous. When my mother asked me in November last year to help a smart but very poor young high school graduate to get into college, Thamer arranged for her a full scholarship and acceptance to January's semester.
We called him wiki because he either knew everything or knew how to get it before anyone else did. He was so good we stopped asking anyone else anything. He answered all our questions.
Intellectually, Thamer was deeply involved in the ongoing events in the Arab world and he longed to contribute. We spoke often of his unique placement as a funder and founder of incubators across the Arab world. He wanted to do something about it.
Last night we stayed up till 6.30am (23 hours ago). We played music, then play station and then we talked. I shared with him some very good news that he'd been pushing me towards for the last few months. He was ecstatic. We then both went to bed. We were the last to wake up today. We all had lunch and then he and a few guys took the buggies out for a final drive before dark. And the rest is history.
Death is always messy. It is the primordial disruptive technology. His death disrupted his life. And what a great life it was.
1977 - 2013