John Rengel

I have been blessed and privileged know John for nearly 35 years, he and his older brother Paul treated me just like a brother. I’m glad I got some time at John’s 78th birthday celebration to have a few minutes of his time to reflect on the good old days, the long lunches we used to enjoy, once John eventually got there, he was usually late because he had been putting some kind of deal together all morning. Miss you mate.

I was fortunate enough to have spent some incredibly meaningful times with John; a truly discerning and respectful man he was that type of person you hear about and only if you were lucky enough would meet in real life. The lives John would have impacted would be difficult to articulate because he had such a unique ability to make you feel you were the reason he woke up that day. I have many treasured memories of him including the countless 5pm "Just finished lunch" with Trevor Powell, Roger & Co visits that he had no business driving from except for saying "the Merc had a impeccable memory for where to go and how to get there"! I always knew there was a story to come and some pearls of wisdom that can only come from such lunches, John always reminded me it was imperative to enjoy the spoils of honest hard work with people you care about. Towards the end no matter the prognoses "what he would refer to as the bill" he would share his medical updates as though he had just spent a day at the office educating doctors that they weren't dealing with an ordinary patient here, he was somehow able to make light of what I know most would be terrified of. It was always obvious Johns primary driving force was his love of his family, he was able to express towards the end that he was satisfied he had achieved all he wanted and in an ultimate proclamation he said he felt the most amount of love it was possible to feel in this life, I knew this was goodbye, he left without the customary hand shake and gave me a hug that somehow left me feeling this wasn't as sad an occasion as I imagined it would be, it was more of a reminder of why I admired and respected this man so much! An incredible man, strong with integrity til the end, I will miss him greatly.