R.I.P. Tony Novak

Updated 12/14/2017 to reflect another “Tony Novak”, a younger attorney with Larson King in Minnesota, occasionally appearing in searches, obviously not the attorney mentioned in my post below.

I suppose that most of us have at least Googled our own name. Those of us who are involved in brand-building around a name as part of a business identity may do more. In my case I’ve monitored every occurrence of the name in media for about two decades. I have a stake in the name in media because I use the URL TonyNovak.com, the twitter name @TonyNovak and various other social media accounts with the name. By now I’ve had thousands of articles and short columns published and distributed throughout the U.S. and it helps to keep tabs on where they turn up.

I’ve noticed that there are only five other people named “Tony Novak” who have turned up with any frequency in newspapers or publicized social media in the years that I’ve monitored the name. I inadvertantly follow their media footprint in the course of tracking my own so I feel some connection and notice a parallel to each one. I suppose it is just human nature to interpret part of their lives in terms of my own:

1. The late attorney in Illinois (also Jewish and also seemed to be guided by value-based career decisions)

2. the European scholar who wrote “Poverty and the State” (his socioeconomic and political views are apparently similar to mine)

3. The talented Hawaiian photographer with Clifford Photography (interesting that photography is also my primary hobby and I’ve had a few public amateur photo shows in the Philadelphia area)

4. The weightlifter on YouTube  (I was also committed to a weightlifting regime in my wrestling years although not involved in weightlifting competitions)

5. the boxer (again, the parallel to my 30 year career and national championships in amateur wrestling)

6. The tech company executive who ia now apparently in Japan (whose career paralleled my time line building the MedSave online insurance brokerage)

Of these six, the most prominent (in terms of media exposure) by far is the attorney from Illinois, partly because he handled some high profile cases that attracted newspaper coverage. Today I learned that he died at age 63. His elegantly written obituary ran in the newspaper in The News Gazette. Although I’ve never met or communicated with Tony Novak, it seems oddly like I’ve known him. I’ve read every item about his career every time he was in a newspaper for at least the past decade. We shared several things in common. He seemed like a very admirable leader and a valuable person to his communities. So, odd as it may be, today I feel a loss.

Rest in peace Tony Novak.