If Teo had put his mind to it, I have no doubt he would have been one of the most incredible minds in our lifetime. Another Buckminster Fuller or Robert Hutchins. As it was, he came pretty close in my book.

Whenever we met, I always felt I had to be at my sharpest mentally, at my wittiest, at my most brilliant self, which is something that comes only in spurts at best. Yet after being with him or even talking to him, I always felt "turned on," superior to the person I had been before seeing him... a better man and an improved individual.

I am still trying to deal with news of his death. I know he had been in delicate health in recent years, and I can only thank the powers beyond for gracing us with him for a little while longer.

We met in the late 1980s in Los Angeles, but, as it turned out, I had known him much longer. I wrote a piece about him shortly after that which I updated after hearing that he was gone.

If you wish, you can read it here: http://www.tonycastro.com/blog/looking-for-hemingway/