“Sadly we had an unexpected death in our division of our beloved colleague, Ron Sakai. Ron and his team of three in Advancement Operations worked for Robb, our Associate Vice President of Advancement Operations. It was a very tough time for those employees as well as many of us in Advancement when we found out Ron had a stroke and might not recover, which sadly he did not. Robb did a tremendous job of demonstrating genuine care and concern both to Ron’s family and our team here in UA. He continually reached out to the family making sure their wishes were met, visited Ron while he was in the hospital, and Robb’s delivery of the news of Ron’s death to our entire UA division team was both sobering, reflective, and absolutely beautiful. He honored him well. I also know that Robb recently came in over the weekend to clean out Ron’s desk; he did this on the weekend so the team didn’t need to be present for it. Many managers have navigated through difficult waters, however the death of a colleague was new for University Advancement, and Robb did a stellar job for which I hope he will be considered for recognition.” –April Cole