Just another compound tragedy...

I learned, this past weekend, about the death of the second of my partners at BAYLEY LEIGHTON & RYAN, the firm I left to my remaining senior partner Pat Bayley in 2005, when I relocated to LA to marry Lisa.

Pat died just before Christmas 2011, quickly and sadly years before her time...and this weekend I heard that Glenn Ryan, just turned 60, had been discovered inside his Staten Island apartment after being dead for more than 2 weeks...  Glenn had left the company in 2003 to pursue a teaching career.  He was a sweet, intelligent and caring man who loved animals and people, and who was a raging alcoholic.  I only mention this because it is what killed him.  He died alone, accompanied only by his 2 cats, Monty and Fergus, probably from total liver failure.

He had contacted his brother sometime in the mid-summer to tell him that he was having very dark "tea colored" urine.  When urged to go to the hospital, he refused because he was worried about who would take care of his cats during his absence.

The compound aspect of this tragedy is that Monty and Fergus have been doomed, despite Glenn's concerns, to a stunningly cruel and lingering death by starvation, thirst and broken hearts.

On Tuesday 11/6, shortly after Sandy hit SI, Glenn's neighbors were alerted by the yowling and howling of his cats.  When the police gained access to Glenn's apartment, they found his badly decomposed body--he had to be formally identified by dental and x-ray records.  Then the police, despite the fact that the cats had sounded the alarm, proceeded to seal the apartment WITH THE CATS STILL IN IT, and then simply drive away.  Animal Control was supposed to have picked up the cats, but they dropped the ball due to being overwhelmed by the storm and logistical problems.  Then, to complete this dark comedy, the police proceeded to LOSE THE KEYS TO THE APARTMENT so that Animal Control, once ready to pick up the animals, couldn't gain access to the apartment.  Furthermore, a court order would have to be filed to allow any access to the apartment, and this--in case you've forgotten--was a long weekend due to Veteran's Day...

So there are two loving animals, two souls, which are languishing--or have ceased to languish--suffering from starvation which has gone on for at least 3-4 weeks, thirst which can only be abated by drinking from a hopefully-accessible toilet bowl, and the broken hearts brought on by total abandonment.

I am very sad, and very very VERY ANGRY...at Glenn for his self-destructiveness...at the NYPD for its blatant stupidity--albeit they had an overload of issues to deal with, to not even note the presence of the animals in their incident report is beyond dereliction of duty--and at the long list of people...creatures with prescient brains, two hands and two legs, who have failed to come to the rescue of these helpless creatures.

Windows are made of glass...BREAK THE FUCKING THINGS...Supers have keys...GET THE FUCKING THINGS AND GO IN THE DOOR...  In other words, act!  I am 3500 miles away from the scene of this moral crime, or I would have done all of this myself by now.

To Monty and Fergus:  God bless you, and rest your souls.  I hope you found solace in each others' company at the end, and that you went simultaneously.  To have to linger alone after years of companionship would be too cruel to contemplate.