Hi Stefanie, I'm glad to see what a gracious, spiritually grounded young woman you've turned out to be. I'm sure your dad has been grateful for who you are and that you're honoring his memory without trying to make him appear any different than he was. Thanks for continuing to communicate on this list and ignoring the foolishness. I knew your dad in '81-'83, when you were very little. You, his baby girl, were the one thing that seemed real and important to him. Yeah, he had money and action flying all around him, but he'd was living in an empty house and when he wasn't gambling he seemed much like a lost child. I was a professional blackjack player at the time, Stuey's age, and was in awe of him. We used to hang out some and had a bunch of mutual gambling acquaintances. Your dad could be totally self-absorbed yet also sweet and generous like people have said. One morning after gambling all night he invited me over for breakfast and had pretty much nothing but a couple of eggs in the refrigerator. He fried them up and showed me baby pictures of you. I don't remember anything else we talked about but I've remembered your name all these years. I have no doubt that you, the person who is posting on this list, are for real. Anyway, back then nobody would play gin with Stuey because he was known to be unbeatable, even when he offered them ridiculous advantages. So he'd turned to poker and had already won the WSOP. When I first met him he was learning backgammon by playing against the best players-- he lost to my friends at first, but he was learning from everything that happened and by the end of the week he may have recovered his losses to them with a little poker. But then he'd go and blow what seemed to me obscene amounts of money on some crazy golf bets. He seemed to be playing his own unique game with life and I could never figure it out. That wasn't my style at all-- I'd carefully save up my winnings and after one good tournement I moved to Santa Barbara and said goodbye to the casinos.I've felt a bit richer from knowing your dad. He had all the problems that everyone knows about, but he always seemed larger than life-- a reminder that even with brilliance and money we can put ourselves through hell, and yet with all its craziness this world can be magic. Even now I get a smile thinking about his grin and his sweetness and his intensity.May the Kid rest in peace, and may you, stefanie, live in the peace that you seem to have found. Kate