Michael Gerald Harlow – 50th Reunion Essay

Michael Gerald Harlow

Date of Death: 1-Oct-2008

College: Morse

(Larry Franks provided this memorial in the January/February 2009 Class Notes)

Michael Harlow died October 1, 2008 in San Jose, California. Mike had been battling cancer (multiple myeloma, then myelodysplasia) courageously for some years, while maintaining a positive outlook right to the end. Mike graduated in 1975 from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with his first wife, Carol, and then began his professional career—first in Seattle, then overseas, working and living in the Philippines, South Asia, and then Colorado and the Silicon Valley area. As an environment program officer with the World Health Organization’s regional office in Manila, Mike sent a group of specialists into Cambodia after the fall of the Pol Pot regime, who were the first to document the full extent of the horrors visited upon Cambodia and its people by the Khmer Rouge. Together, Michael and Carol had two sons, Jonathan and Nicholas, who now live in Tokyo and Fontainebleau, France, respectively. Two years before he fell ill for the first time, he met and married Nancy Newlin in San Jose; Nancy remained with him through his long struggle with illness.

There was a gathering of friends and family after his death at the home Michael shared with Nancy at 1191 Clark Street, San Jose, 95125. Michael’s blog about his odyssey as a myelodysplasia patient can be found at www.heretoawaken.com. His last wish was that more people would consider registering as stem cell donors (information at www.marrow.org). Mike reveled in discovering new ideas and experiences; Yale was and is a great place for doing just that, but Mike kept at it, never settling into complacency but always welcoming the chance to take the path less traveled.