4 Cliff Place

Pelham Manor, NY 10803

April 25, 2014

Joyce Barnish
22 Talmage Rd
Mendham, NJ 07945-1532
Dear Joyce:
I am writing to express my most sincere condolences over the loss of Keith. Having
attended the funeral services yesterday, I was very moved by your words
celebrating Keiths life for a variety of reasons. While your benign references to his
tendency to yell definitely resonated with me and made me smile since I worked
with him for seven years at Bear Stearns, the fact that his favorite movie was Its A
Wonderful Life was never revealed to me (it happens to be my favorite as well and
made me long for that missed connection with him).
Keith really impressed me not because of his success in the business world but for
his life philosophy and path to such success. To me, he wasnt necessarily the gladhanding salesman type who was able to generate good-will through superficial
words; it was his actions that spoke louder than words. A few brief examples:
At some point in the 2005 to 2007 timeframe, Keith took me and several
other mid-level employees to your vacation home at The Homestead in
Virginia for a weekend of golf, wine and steaks. While there with him, I was
struck by the reception he received from many of the employees. He was
greeted as though he were a respected and loved family member, not just a
customer. It was there at The Homestead that Keith revealed to me the most
important lesson I could learn from him, which was that was that treating
other people well is the best investment you can ever make. In explaining
why he was treated like a celebrity and in seeing the way he included even
the lower-level employees in his world, the more you give, the more you
get were the words he used. It was at that moment that I really started to
get to know what sort of a man he was.
Despite having dozens and dozens of direct and indirect reports, the fact that
I didnt report to him directly and the fact we were extremely busy at the
time, Keith took the time to come to my Mothers wake, when she passed
away in 2007. We didnt interact much at the wake, but I did notice tears in
his eyes when he expressed his condolences. That was a shocker, but yet
another sign.

The holiday dinner you and Keith put on for his trusted, long-time employees
in the Bear Stearns loan business that it seemed he viewed as part of his
inner circle. The thing was that it really wasnt such a small circle. Im not
sure how many couples you both hosted that night but there must have been
30-40 people there and Im sure this event wasnt something that could be
expensed, either. In any case, it was an amazing, memorable night that made
my wife and I feel very blessed to know you and Keith and to be a part of the
success that he created for all of us through his leadership.

As I left St. Marys Abbey yesterday, I was taken aback by my own tears that I was
not able to stop tears that I had not experienced since losing my Mom years ago.
Words fall short of expressing my sorrow for your loss, but I hope it is comforting for
you to know how much (and why) he was loved.
Sincerely,

Kevin Cullen