Love from: Jon Weiner

Anyone who has known Lauren, certainly anyone who has known Lauren as long as I have (46 years) knows that if you want to get hold of someone—anyone-- who is worth getting hold of, why you ask Lauren because that person is, at worst, only one degree of separation from him, but more likely someone who Lauren had lunch with the week before.

What was more surprising to me was to learn roughly 15 years, if I recall,  into our friendship was to learn that Lauren also had everything worth having.  I found this out one summer when I had a prized invitation to visit him in his house in Martha’s Vineyard.  Now not everyone has a house in Martha’s Vineyard, and very, very few had one in the prized Menemsha part.  Well, the house was quite memorable, but what did clinch things was the walk to what I thought (and now know quite mistakenly) was Lauren’s private, quite large, ocean pond on which Lauren had two kayaks.  He got into one and paddled away with calm proprietorship.  He didn’t realize that I was quite stunned by the scene—who has a private ocean pond--and on MARTHA’S VINEYARD??  (I did manage to get into the guest kayak and caught up with him…)

With happy 70th birthday wishes, I wish he and Karen also have something else,  a long and happy life ahead.

Jon Weiner