Uncle Al Reporting

In July 2023, my brother, Michael, passed away at the age of 82 in an Ohio hospital. At his death as well as in the previous 30 + years, namely since the date of his divorce, he had lived constantly alone, aside from the company of a varying number of cats he confined within his dwelling, a modest single-family home that had gradually decayed into indescribable squalor and disrepair. Michael's children, my nieces, were in their 50's at the time of his death. All contact between my brother and his daughters as well as their mother had terminated a few months following his divorce, namely more than three decades earlier. This chasm was his children's decision, reflecting their residual bitterness and hostility, resulting from an acrimonious childhood and youth. My brother's personality and behavior toward everyone once close to him were unrelievedly oppressive. Upon his death, Michael was an eight-figure millionaire. All in all, it was no mystery why his immediate family fled with no fond memories as soon as liberation became convenient. Regarding my relationship with my brother: Until around six years before his death I had maintained only sporadic contact. Far more sadly, for more than 44 years I had failed entirely to communicate with my nieces and my brother's former spouse, who, in contrast to Michael, had been initially cordial. Physical and emotional separation from my brother became most convenient for me, as for almost 40 years prior to his passing I resided in Europe, visiting him in Cincinnati rather few times throughout that period and never longer than two-three weeks. Upon Michael's death absolutely no one in his extremely limited circle of acquaintances was aware of the existence of his children, let alone their whereabouts. Therefore, I understood it as my obligation to research their contact information and inform them of their dad's passing. This communication ended a 44-yr. hiatus in correspondence with them. My nieces stated they found it interesting to discover they had cousins as well as a surviving uncle and were curious to develop acquaintances. It then seemed to me I should feel obligated to share with my nieces and Michael's surviving relatives a few details from Michael's last years, on his uniquely tragic-comic eccentricity, on the content of correspondence between us, and finally a bit of my own background intended to help them understand "Who is this uncle Al and can he tell us anything of interest?" Finally, after having compiled the reminiscences and record of communications it was suggested to me: While Michael's story will inevitably fade into oblivion, others who never knew him might find his shockingly eccentric neurosis and his sad life of self-imposed denial worthy of curiosity, possibly instructive, and even darkly comic. Similarly, a number of quite bizarre experiences I had shared with Michael from my international career, as well as a few satirical observations on contemporary popular science reporting, all written originally to interest and possibly even amuse my brother in his fading years, might prove entertaining.