Beloved Colleagues in the Filipino American Community, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of our Filipino American community, we offer our condolences to our dear Emy, to Ruben’s children Cris and Lisa, his brother Angel and sister Cora, and relatives.

Emy requested that I keep my remarks short. I will heed her request. On the second thought, with a few minutes, how can I do justice to the exultation of a colleague as good as Ruben? To be frank about it, I can speak for hours about the attributes of this great friend.

Opposite the dark cloud of his loss, Ruben’s character became more profound and bright.

Ruben was one true gentleman. He had uniquely tamed the egoic tendency of man to project bigness to oneself. Ruben was never like that. He stayed low key even when there was a clear path to a more exalted position. He could have been President of our community organization the last four years when we invited him to be the one. He said he did not have the gift of garb and eloquence to inspire people. So, he was in the background, and did the tedious job of back staffing for us. He did not listen to my explanation that if he could inspire me, and I am hard to please, he could have inspired others with his humility, his candor, his unassuming ways, and his work ethic.

Ruben was a loyal friend. He did not seem to have enemies. He did not engage in idle conversation, never talked ill of anyone. He had mastered the wisdom of stillness even when a maelstrom of problems hovered around him. He was the guru of the eloquence of silence. He could express love and concern in his own, quiet and inimitable ways.

Ruben always had time to heed the call of family, friends, relatives, and new acquaintances. He made himself useful without the fanfare and pride of being and feeling important. That was the reason why a new-found friend Abe King, Jr., could not speak and only shed tears on Ruben’s bier because, in the short time they knew each other, Ruben made Abe a real king with his ready assistance in the founding of the PBA Legends Foundation.

Ruben did not flaunt his academic credentials and professional successes, more so, his wealth. Very few people knew about his university degree in mathematics, his graduate training, and his mastery of computers. His work output however demonstrated such expertise and acumen. His children Cris and Lisa are the epitome of academic prowess; Ruben was proud of them but he did not brag about their achievements.

Ruben told me once, that positions and titles and possessions are not one’s reality -- that man’s real nature is in the human-ness of his being, in his consciousness of the significance of every living creature, and in his compassion towards people. Ruben believed and practiced such dictum to his last hours.

I can go on and on, but I’d rather stop, with these final words.

There was a saint who lived among us named Ruben Ramos, and we are all fortunate to have walked in his midst, that we shared his existence on earth. His humanity and love enriched us all.

I will miss him so much. The void will take a long time to fill, if at all.

For Emy and Cris and Lisa, and closed relatives, with Ruben’s passing, we can only imagine that beyond your solitude is another solitude, whose depth and severity, we cannot really fathom. Only to say, that we grieve with and for you, as we feel the emptiness of separation from Ruben, as well.

Good bye dear friend, brother, dear Vice President Ruben.