Peter Weiss

Yesterday the world lost a truly unique man, Peter Weiss. I did not know him as well as some, but I was proud to think of him as a friend. He was the father of a dear dear friend, and he left us to soon. While I met peter on several occasions, I really got to know him when he and his family adopted me for a week when we were both in Beijing last summer. Peter put me up in a hotel, fed me every meal, and took me to climb the great wall of china. My week with the Weiss's let me get to know several sides of Peter. I met the Peter Weiss who was a respected lawyer. I saw this Peter grin proudly when he was publicly singled out by the Chinese Minister of Technology and information at a banquet following a conference he was attending. I got to know Peter Weiss the devout Buddhist, when we visited many of Beijing's famous temples. Mostly I will remember the Peter Weiss who gleefully jumped out of a van to talk to some bee farmers on the side of the road.

We were coming back from climbing the great wall when Peter saw some bee keepers living in a tent on the side of the road. After getting me to stop the driver we got out, and peter began pantomiming to them that he too had once been a Bee Keeper. I do not know if they understood him, in fact I am pretty sure they were nothing but confused by him, but they could tell he was trying to tell them something nice, and that he was a good person. He climbed back in the van with a water bottle full of unrefined honey, which they had decided to give him. I can still see him smiling ear to ear.

Goodbye Peter. I wish I had gotten to know you better. I hope everything is better wherever you are now.