Henry Gallin, HG’s friend and business colleague for more than 40 years, died recently at his Arizona home. His death was a blessing. A stroke had left him desperately impaired, unable to walk or speak. A generous human being and a caring friend, Henry had a brilliant career as a New York real estate executive specializing in commercial leasing. An expert negotiator, he more than held his own in wrangles with the city’s tough realty billionaires. Seeking a new life with an emphasis on the outdoor environment, Henry moved to Crested Butte, Colorado, where he was a very successful and imaginative real estate developer and community activist. Then on to Denver where he triumphed as an office building investor (Fortunate HG/BSK were minor players in his activities). Finally, in Arizona, he was active as a real estate consultant to one of the country’s largest financial institutions. HG and Henry (Gallin was head of the financial district office of Edward S.Gordon Co.and HG was the public relations consultant to the Gordon business) dined often at the tragically ill-fated Windows on the World Restaurant located at the top of the World Trade Center tower. HG/BSK frequently ate and drank with Henry and his beautiful Texan wife, Judy, at restaurants and mutual homes in Colorado, Vancouver, New Mexico and Arizona. Wherever he dined, Henry demanded firm assurances from the staff that no cilantro would sully any dish he ordered. The very thought of the herb could make him ill. Daring in business, Henry was a conservative at the table. He found HG’s taste for innards and esoteric sea creatures unnerving.. “You order things that look like they could walk off the plate,” he would wonder. Rest in peace, dear Henry, there is no cilantro and no slithery creatures in your future.
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