Eulogy from Andreas

Andreas Sjolund (Friend)

Jason loved his family, his friends, and his Sarah and loved spending all of his free time with the people he loved. When he was with his friends he would call his family to talk stocks or plan the next ski trip and on that ski trip he would call me just to see if we were watching the Westminster Dog Show on TV. And sometimes he even called Sarah from the bathroom, in order to kill two birds with one stone.

I was in Sweden when I heard the news and the very first time I managed to leave the apartment I collected myself and walked outside and I couldn’t take a step without being reminded of the time we all spent in Stockholm together. When my dad offered to have our clothes washed and Evers took off everything but a windbreaker, or when we met a Swedish lady on the street one night who didn’t believe we were all from the US. When we asked her to guess our nationalities she looked at Andy and said “American” and then she looked at Mark and said “American.” She looked at me and said “Swedish” and finally looked at Jason and said “this one’s definitely a “Laplander”, a native Eskimo of northern Sweden.

Feelings of uncontrollable laughter and then sorrow were followed by a realization that even as far away as Sweden, or LA or DC or wherever we find ourselves, we will carry these and hundreds of other stories with us forever. The memories we have of Jason are too fond and too many for us to ever suppress or forget.

And while our sorrow over his loss seems boundless, it is somehow transcended by the fortune we feel to have known him and his family so closely and for so long.

While Jason’s departure is a devastating one that we will never comprehend, we all know that his personality and his spirit and his sense of humor will warm our hearts and keep us smiling forever.

Jason, we love you, we miss you and you will always be our brother and our best friend.