Norm Sklar was a good man and now he’s gone and I can’t stop thinking about what a positive force he was in my life. It was just a few days ago that we were last talking and never more than a week would pass without some sharp witted dialog with Norm, a New York Expat from Costa Rica.
Over the course of the past few years Norm and I developed a really close bond and the weirdest thing is though, that we had never met in real life and yet we often talked every day for five days in a row. We had so many plans and just about to execute on some of them, one of which was to take Norm for Dim Sum with our Chinese colleagues in Vancouver.
Norm had a tremendous regard for the Chinese culture, having earned 3 black belts he had been trained and mentored by martial artists from China that lived in New York where Norm grew-up and lived much of his life. He often talked about how connected he was with Chinese people in NYC, and elsewhere. Naturally, he was always very appreciative of the associates he made in Beijing via Vancouver. His specialty was infrastructure funding agreements, or any type of bank note contract.
The locals of Escazu in Costa Rica loved Norm and knew that he was a Master Champion Bridge player, as well as karate champion. He’d travelled to all central American countries, lived many years in Panama and had made major contributions to these people, by setting up clinics and bringing superior medical technology to Guatemala and El Salvador.
Recently Norm had been solving energy generating issues for a power company in Brazil, by introducing California based engineers that he had been coaching and nurturing. Really, Norm had been helping many people in at least a dozen different projects, many of these projects are focused on clean drinking water, medicine and electricity. This work will continue, as Norm would have insisted. He will not be forgotten when it’s done.
There’s so much to say about Norm Sklar that I’m going to ask for some further input from our mutual friends and attempt to find some good photos. I’m really feeling a big loss but hope that he’s in peace and back with God.
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