Mike Heifner
To those of us who knew Rita - We were blessed with the brilliance of a creative mind, a caring soul and an understanding heart. Rita made a tremendous impact on my way of thinking about people...good or bad; upstanding or evil; common or eccentric. During our discussion, Rita quoted Death of a Salesman in talking about Willie Loman by saying, "He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid." From that day forward, viewing someone...anyone...through those few sentences was top priority. It didn't matter where a person came from...nor where they stand at present. What mattered was that we needed to look at every person as a human being first and that attention must be paid. So...Here's to paying attention to one of the smartest women I ever had the pleasure of meeting. RIP Rita.