“ As I read your comments, I have tears in my eyes and smiles on my lips. Ali and I were best friends since the 1960's. We went to the same school and became friends very quickly. We played a lot of football together. We were separated when he left for the UK and I left for the U.S. to continue our studies and rejoined in Canada where both of us had started our careers as professors. We have been working closely together since early 1980's. Our friendship was unique because he was a unique human being. His passion in life was to help others. He sprinkled love and hope on anyone he touched. He had a deep belief and trust in other human beings and lived his life to help others be better. He had a very soft personality on surface but a very strong and tough core. He believed in what he was doing and always dedicated himself to achieve his goal regardless of how hard the obstacles. It was such a privilege to have him as my best friend and such a heavy pain to lose him. My deep condolences to Ann, Niki, and kia. We all lost a beautiful human being. ”