To Son’s friends, family, and loved ones,My name is Daniel Lau, and like so many people, I was stunned when I heard that Son Dao had passed away.Son and I met in the Fall of 1980 as 9th graders at Loma Linda Academy. Son would write to me a few years later in our annual yearbook, “I guess we were destined to be friends for life since, under the most embarrassing of circumstances, freshmen, we still managed to find things laugh about.” I discovered that Son was a great conversationalist with thoughts and ideas informed by our shared as well as our vastly different life experiences. Our topics of discussion would include friends, music, art, sports, religion, and philosophy, and the tone would range from very light to intensely challenging.After high school, Son and I managed to keep in touch sporadically then lost contact for a while. About 10 years ago, we reconnected for a wonderful collaboration: a solo piano CD project. I reached out to Son about the project, and he immediately agreed to be a part of it. Over a period of a couple of years, I consulted with Son on all aspect of the project, sending him samples of recorded tracks, then mulling over repertoire choices, visual representation of the project, and even interpretive choices of tracks. Ultimately, Son designed all aspects of the CD, created the artwork, and played a major role in the title, content, and overall artistic vision of the project. It was a joy to work professionally with Son, a full 25 years after we had been high school classmates.A couple of weeks before Son’s death, we began a conversation about a follow-up collaboration.Son was brilliant, creative, complicated, loyal, funny, and many other things. It is with deeply profound sadness that I bid him goodbye.I am grateful to have known you, Son. Rest in peace, dear friend!
