Mike Simanoff has passed away.. we don't have many details yet, but I'll use this blog to post any details for those who were lucky enough to know Mike.
What we do know is that Mike apparently passed away in his Chicago high-rise apartment. He was last seen at the DoubleClick offices on Friday, August 11, 2006.
Mike's parents, from Jacksonville, Florida, should be in Chicago by now, they drove up from FL last night.
2 comments:
The Socks Said It All!
The socks! How could we miss the socks (Christian, thanks for reminding us!)
The mismatched socks were always Mike's personal fashion "statement." I asked him about it once and he told me this trend started sometime back in high school.
And it was so *him.* I'm pretty sure he put the same care and thought into selecting the non-matches that others put into choosing a "coordinated outfit!"
The socks were Mike, through and through. When the world zigged, he zagged and was always proud to do that. He was bright, creative, well read and funny. Not to mention innovative and a blast to work with. And a great friend too.
When I was first asked to work with him at Phase2Meida, my assignment was to mentor Mike in the ways of "traditional" media research.
At the end of the day, I'm sure I learned more than I taught, about everything from the New World of the Internet to the fine points of Russian Literature...
Its really sad to know that the next time I find some off beat/silly/ironic internet story, to send to Mike, he won't be writing back with a funny response or a similar find.
Mike, we miss you. Its really sad to think you won't be along for the rest of the ride. Your friendship and insight will be sorely missed by everyone who knew you.
-dave zornow
I am proud to have hired Mike at Phase2 (after meeting him through David Levin at i33), where to me he will always define the smart, well read, and very idealistic generation that was the dot-com era.
As much as I taught him, he challenged me, laughed at some of my lame technical skills and was willing to participate in the silliness of things like creating a company theme song. A year ago I found a copy of "Sell us an Ad", something he composed to the tune of Piano Man.
Mike agreed with me that work is often supremely inane and that you've got to find the humor in it. I've often wished life were as happy and goofy as when the marketing department was dressing in costumes to represent web sites and singing songs together (work as summer camp!).
We've all moved on but I hope Mike knew how much he meant to the people he worked with, befriended, revealed the mismatched socks to --and occasionally sang with.
Kathryn Koegel
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