Staci, 

We are so sorry that we are unable to attend. Michael will always hold a place in our hearts, and we all miss him and his knowledge. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from him. We will be thinking of you and all who loved him.  Heather and all at WholeFoods Magazine 

I won't be able to attend the August 31st remembrance in person and thought I should share the lightly edited transcript from a short talk I gave about Michael at the AHPA membership meeting at the EXPO West trade show on March 4th earlier this year. It is as follows.

This will be personal. As with most things with Michael, his hiring me was a result of a process. I got the call driving back from taking a tactical pistol class after my corporate position was eliminated. Because what else do you do after something like that but take up a hobby? Michael told me that Joe Betz was leaving AHPA and asked who should fill the position of AHPA's science officer. We discussed a few names, mine included, and kept the conversation going.

Michael had reservations about hiring me because of strong opinions in support of my previous employer. And always valuing the opinion of others, he expressed his concern to Joe, and Joe replied that my focused representation for my employer would carry over to AHPA. And 23 years ago, just before this Expo, I accepted the position.

Out working relationship was professional. Michael supported my engagement at AHPA with a keen eye to what would serve the membership during my 11 years as a staff member. Notably, when it was suggested to Michael by a member company that I take up a non-scientific opinion regarding a controversial ingredient, he flatly refused and explained that adherence to scientific rigor was essential to AHPA's reputation.

The strength of Michael's accomplishments resulted from his following processes by which goals are reached. This process-oriented approach continues to be central to AHPA's work and how AHPA’s initiatives start. Ideas surface at the committee or board level before going to a committee, then a working group does the work and reports back to the committee, and the committee recommends it to the board that votes on it. I do not know a lot of organizations that have such a collaborative longstanding process that is now an integral part of how AHPA functions.

Following his openness to seek input, Michael had reached out to me about his health challenges because of an experience I had a few years ago, and I thank the people here for the support that I received at that time. I had the privilege of receiving a call from him asking how I kept my spirit up during particularly difficult times. I reflected on this and responded that partly it was that I had felt that I wasn't done, that I still had things I needed to do, and that I submitted to treatments.

His response that he felt maybe he was done with his work and his takeaway that he should do as he was told, something not easy for Michael to do, I'm sure. I was able to visit him one last time before he stopped treatment and returned home. His last words to me were, see you soon.

I hope not too soon, Michael, not too soon. Since I lived close by, I was able to attend the cacao ceremony in his garden on the afternoon of his passing. There I heard another perspective of Michael, one expressed by his neighbors, longtime friends and relatives.

To show you how different that was, there was a longtime friend there, they called each other Mike. You know that's not possible in his professional career, but in the private sector, it was quite different. So, I was able to express to them a bit of his impact of his professional life, which was appreciated, particularly by his younger brother, Tony, who, by the way, is a spitting image of him.

I'll close with a story that his sister told at that ceremony. About 30 of us were there, and we all got to have a few minutes to speak. She told what I’ll call the cracker story.

He was on the phone with his, I guess his grand-niece, and she was saying she had a garden. And that she grew tomatoes. Michael replied, “I grow tomatoes.”

Just hear Michael saying that. She grew cucumbers. “Well, I grow cucumbers too.” She goes, yeah, well, I grow crackers. “Really? Never heard of that,” he replied.

One day she came and visited Michael’s garden, and Michael said, “you know, I looked up cracker plants, and it's true, they do exist,” just before showing her a garden shrub that he had fixed crackers to.

I first met Michael in 1994 in the run up to the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.  I was serving then as counsel to one of the supplement trade associations and we were strategizing.  Michael was there with two others I called "Herbheads," Rob McCaleb and Roy Upton.  They talked and fantasized that the passage of DSHEA could lead eventually to the legalization of marijuana.  Fantasy to me but it has come to pass.  

After DSHEA passed I became counsel to the American Herbal Products Association.  Michael was on the Board and I worked with him because he was the most involved Board member and the one who best understood the issues and the legal framework.  He then became the head of AHPA and took what was a small, low budget trade association to make it a real force with the US legislature and FDA and when necessary, state and local governments.  

Michael was one of the smartest people that I ever met.  He used his intellect to help small and large botanical companies and advocates through legal and technical issues to preserve their businesses whether AHPA members or not.  

I am a lawyer and Michael's stature grew with me when he acquired what was then and now is the vegetable garden.  Learning that the property taxes had not been paid, he paid them and through a complicated legal process that only Michael would have the intellect and patience to go through, he became the owner.  Law students learn of such things but Michael made it happen!

I have learned much about Michael that I did not know from all who have posted here.  I learned about his vegetable business in Venice when he first came there.  I grew up in Santa Monica.  My Father's family had a grocery business in nearby Ocean Park and Santa Monica, including what became the Brentwood Country Mart.  Lost in the Great Depression, it nonetheless supported my Father and his three siblings with employment through the Depression and up to WWII.   

We miss you Michael.  I look forward to joining the Zoom call. 

Tony Young, Venice Florida

Michael actually saved my company and YewTips from destruction when a fake news report stated that Taxus brevifolia was poisonous. Michael put a stop to it and if it weren't for him, there would be no YewTips today. As far as presidents go, I think he ranks right up there with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I wept when I learned of his death. 

May he rest peacefully in the garden of heaven. 

I met Mike in fall 1970 when we both were sophomores at Hopkins. Mike decided he didn’t want to continue as a student and withdrew before we got to graduation. His then girlfriend was my best friend at the time.

After sophomore year we 3 ended up living in some group houses along with 4 others. The first house was short-lived as the house suffered extensive damage because of a gas explosion and fire. I was not at the house when it happened. I don’t remember whether Mike was there then. One of our housemates was severely burned and died a few weeks later.

We were all somewhat traumatized and the 6 of us remaining wanted to stay together. We ended up renting an old 3-story farmhouse near Reisterstown and Glyndon, Maryland. with enough land around it for Mike to plant a picture-perfect vegetable and herb garden. At the time it seemed like it was his first foray into gardening and it seemed like it was making him very happy.

After graduation I moved out as did 4 more of us. Mike stayed and his very good friend Pat Wall moved in. I don’t remember how long they stayed before Mike moved to California. He and his college sweetheart Randy parted ways amicably as she moved to Philadelphia for vet school at Penn and I headed for law school.

Contact with and news of Mike after that was infrequent.

I last saw him maybe 20 years ago when he was in DC for business and invited me to meet him for dinner somewhere in the DC suburbs. It was a nice, nice evening. An easy and interesting conversation on both sides. I remember him telling me about his friendship and collaboration with Orren Hatch and there was something about a possible move to Colorado but that didn’t happen. We hugged good bye and that was the end of our contact. One less star in the sky. As far as I know there are only 2 of us housemates left. 

I look forward to your Zoom call.

On behalf of the St. Mel Church community in Woodland Hills, CA, I am extending our sincerest condolences to the McGuffin family and to Staci and her family. May his soul rest in eternal Peace.

Angelita Abushahla

St. Mel Bereavement Ministry