Richard Habib (1970-2015)

Post date: Oct 12, 2015 1:10:38 AM

As you may have already heard, our Regional Director, Richard Habib, passed away suddenly on Saturday, October 3, 2015, due to a heart attack. What a young, vibrant person he was in every aspect of his life. Richard had just celebrated his 20 year anniversary with TLC this past summer, and many here have known him for most of his tenure. Having only been with TLC for four years myself, my interaction with him was truly limited compared to that of others, like Todd Jameson, Center Manager of TLC Rockville, and Dr. Andrew Holzman, Regional Medical Director of our area centers, but I would still like to believe that I shared great moments with him.

On other blogs and Facebook, you'll find posts about how much he loved his family, sports, life. Here, I want to share some of my fondest memories of this soul that was taken from us abruptly. It is only now that I can really put together some honest thoughts after getting past the initial shock and disbelief.

Richard loved diet soda. In our office, I love organizing the mini-fridge where we keep cold drinks for our patients. My goal is to present patients with a unique assortment of drinks that they might not always encounter. It's just another way of saying that TLC is thoughtful in what it does. I liked bringing Richard his Coke Zero. He took great joy in ragging on me for stocking Diet Coke with Lime once. He said it was horrible (sorry, Coke Company, if you are reading this!) and asked why on Earth would I buy that?

Richard always stuck to his guns, no matter how much I pestered him about everything. At one point, I needed both a patient counselor and a technician, so I wanted to hire two people since I had a qualified candidate for both positions. I spent so long developing my pro/con list, practicing my presentation, and come the big day, ugh, nothing was working. He would not bend. Finally, I don't know what came over me. I said, "Fine, let's arm wrestle!" I win, I get both staff members. He wins, I walk away like Eeyore with my tail between my legs. Oh, did I ever give it my all. He even let me use both arms. And, just when I "thought" I was making some leeway, he said, "Tell me when you want to start!" In my head, I'm thinking, "Serious?! I thought we had already started!" And then ... BAM! ... It was over in seconds. He won, fair and square, and I left with only one staff member, and my arm was sore for like two days!

Richard loved to coach soccer. He used to tell me that one of the little girls on the team reminded him of me. She was a little Asian girl with lots of energy, and she always carried around her soccer ball which she had named Bob. (My husband's name is Bob.) So funny. But, I'm sorry he had to be reminded of me while he was having fun! : )

Richard was ready for so many things in life, ready to take on so many more challenges. I will never understand why this happened, much less to him. - jw