Raul de Arriz

We had a heavy loss this week as our friend and compatriot, Raul de Arriz passed away after a long battle with cancer. My relationship with Raul goes back about a dozen years. After recovering from his first battle with cancer, Raul came to work with Small Dog Electronics as our government sales guy. He did that job so well that government sales became over 50% of our revenue.   But more than that, he was a constant source of encouragement, advice, optimism and courage. As I watched him battle cancer over the past few years, I was astounded at his tenacity and upbeat approach to life. This was one very smart and very sweet man.

I would literally spend hours on the phone with Raul and we normally dispensed with business in the first couple minutes but Raul would tell stories, ask about my family, encourage me and tell me about his life. Even as his life was clearly in danger he called me hours after having a heart attack - to check up on me!

Many times it was hard to get off the phone with Raul as the stories were colorful and the tangents were many. As he would so often say as we ended the call "I'll get out of your hair now..." I miss you my friend.