It has been a week since our fellow co-leader Robert Ling died suddenly after arriving in Boulder, Colorado for our annual Meeting of the Minds (MoM). Many of you have asked how you can offer support to Robert’s family in Malaysia, where Robert led a November Project community in Miri for 5 years. In order to help Robert’s family in this next stage of their lives, we are raising immediate funds to assist with the travel and additional costs to reunite Robert with his family. Please click this link to be taken to the donation page.
The end-of-life process is exceptionally costly and these costs are substantially higher given the global travel and coordination between two distant countries. We anticipate the cost to be between $10-20k for direct expenses. Given the timely nature of this request, all money that is raised will go to Robert’s family immediately. Any additional funds raised above these associated costs will be given directly to Robert’s family, including his teenage daughters, to use as they need. Given the time sensitive nature of this logistical coordination, we are hoping to raise enough funds quickly to alleviate this unanticipated financial hardship for Robert’s family.
We understand that some people may wish to express their love and appreciation for Robert and his family in ways aside from financial support. If you would like to share stories, comments, or messages with his family, please click here. Many people have written heartfelt words below our prior post; we would love for you to share those sentiments through this form as well so that we can present them to his family collectively.
The founder of November Project Malaysia, Ridley Chen, has shared some memories of Robert below:
Robert was a man of very few words, but his impact on his community is tremendous. To many who knew him through NP outside of Malaysia, he came across as a quiet person but in actuality, he was quiet because he was always more interested in listening and learning.
Ask anyone from NP Malaysia and I am certain they will describe Robert as positive, supportive, and passionate.
I’ve known Robert for over 5 years, and most of the things I know of him, I learned on our two trips to MOM in San Francisco and Seattle. It took hours of being on the plane to be able to get him to talk about himself and even then, I couldn’t get very much out of him. I just know that Robert was always down to support you in anything you do, he deeply cared about people, he was very giving of his time and even more generous when it comes to charity.
Robert was a great friend, a supportive run buddy, and most importantly, a very loving dad to his daughters Amber and Rebecca.
We will miss you, my friend, until we meet again. Rest In Peace.
If you have any questions, concerns, or anything to share, please feel free to reach out through the contact form. Resources around trauma and grief can be provided upon request.
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