I first met Eli senior year when we both lived in Freeman.

But I’d heard about him. I wasn’t inclined to like him. But we hit it off pretty immediately, and established a remarkably easy friendship. We bonded over music. We were both pretty obsessed with the same stuff. We spent hours on end drinking bourbon (not my choice), listening to the blues, and playing endless hours of “The incredible machine” on my 1994 era computer. We listened to Dire Straits "Alchemy" (dubbed by some to be most boring live album ever made) all the time. 

I think we were drawn to each other because we’re both a freaking lot. Like, a lot. But when it was just the two of us together we could both just relax and not be “on”. He was a kindred spirit in that way. He was a kindred spirit in a lot of ways.

I've really enjoyed reading all the stories posted here. It's taken me a bit to gather myself to post this.  I miss him a lot.

I made a playlist that captures that time. Enjoy.

https://music.apple.com/us/pl…

I've been Eli's friend since I was 18 years old. My first encounter with Eli was our first day at college together. The freshman class posed for a group photograph. As the photographer was panning the camera to capture all of us, I see Eli running from one side to the other, so that there would be two images of him captured on both sides of the photograph. He was always a bit cheeky!

I remember once lying asleep in my dorm room when I was awakened by Eli's loud voice. It was maybe 2 or 3 am. The dorm was quiet except for Eli and the person he was talking to. Then I hear the other person complaining about me to Eli, saying I never smile, I'm not friendly, etc. But the fact is, I didn't like that guy. He was the person who would get drunk and spray the fire extinguisher or try to rip out one of the bathroom sinks. Eli defended me and said so many nice things about me. All this at volume 5000 of course. I was so touched and never mentioned it to Eli. That's the kind of person he was though. He'd always have your back.

Occasionally at the end of a night out in college, Eli would enjoy busting open my dorm room door (I never locked my door) and jumping right on top of me while I was sound asleep. Sometimes I had no idea what was happening and it would take me a few minutes to figure out it was Eli. He thought it was so funny and he did it so many times. Years later, he'd still laugh about it with me.

Eli used to call me "Danimal," and then he met someone who thought my first name was "Dan" and my last name was "Imal." Oh, he thought that was pretty funny! He often called me "Mr. Imal" after that.

When Eli RSVP'd for my wedding, he RSVP'd for just himself, with no guests. Sure enough, on the wedding day, he showed up with a girlfriend. Before my first dance with my new bride, Eli's girlfriend grabbed the microphone and started to sing "At Last" by Etta James a cappela. She stopped after a minute to exhort me and my bride to get up and dance. We did, but it was so awkward. There is not a single photograph or video that captured the next 4 minutes of us painfully dancing to her singing. The entire audience was just gritting their teeth in awkardness. It became another one of Eli's favorite stories. If I ever was with him and we met someone who hadn't heard this story, well, he would tell this story straight away, laughing the entire time.

Eli had a great sense of humor and could take a joke at his expense too. He loved to laugh. In New York, his apartment was always a warm and inviting place. If I were ever down or hating my job, he would cheer me up. I'd come into his apartment, he'd tell me he's been studying chess and there's no way I could beat him. It would be game on, with lots of laughs. I will miss my old friend dearly. 

The first time I met Eli in Manhattan about a year ago, he was practicing some bizarre crossover of basketball and soccer, I could see right away I had met a very special spirit. Always on the move, always shining, always sharing his strange and brilliant ideas with anyone who would listen. 

We were very fast friends, countless nights we would spend wandering the city, getting into all sorts of craziness, we never ran out of things to discuss and debate. He seemed to have lived endless different lives, I never saw two photos of him where he looked the same, always changing, always growing.

I don't think I've ever met anyone who was so effortless generous, so un materialistic, he cared about the important things in life and would never waste a second on anything else.

Eli gave me so much, endless friendship, endless company, wisdom, laughter, support, inspiration, backgammon.

I will never forget Eli, I only knew him for a short time but he has given me a lifetime of stories, laughter, and things to think about. Thank you.