Farewell, Igal

One evening ten years ago, I received a call from Igal Lichtman, who witnessed my frustration unfold at a sales thread on DNForum.

For a man in his mid-30′s that I was, receiving fatherly advice from a someone I hadn’t met in person, felt strange; by the end of our conversation, my tempest had turned into a calm sea.

Igal told me that I should not sweat the small things, particularly those that occur during a faceless encounter involving someone’s keyboard bravado.

Seven years later, I met Igal in person, at TRAFFIC in Las Vegas. Upon telling him who I was, he gave me a bear hug that was reassuring and fatherly.

I had no idea that Igal had six children, but this might explain why this burly, shaved-headed man, took the role of fatherhood very seriously.

Igal explained to me, that his “MrsJello” moniker in the domain community, was a word he made up from the first letter of his wife’s and kids’ first names:

Michal, Rochelle, Sahar, Jason, Erica, Lori and Leeshy. And… When its all done and explained most people say “Ohhhh!”

Since 2002, “MrsJello” sold me hundreds of quality domains, many of which earned a healthy profit when I resold them. Others, I still keep to this day, confident that they will be put to good use in the future.

Igal loved to negotiate, closing bulk deals, but he was also very generous. His sales threads on DNForum are legendary; he was kind to let me peruse the lists a couple of hours prior to posting them.

Knowing my selective tendencies, he was confident that I would turn a profit on anything I picked. After dozens of transactions, I acquired the last domain from Igal in July 2012; he seemed to have retracted from domain sales since, but his business ventures, such as TrafficMedia, rolled forward successfully.

In August 2012, Igal launched a redesigned Jerusalem.com portal and app; clearly, the Golden Chalice of his domain portfolio. Igal eventually listened to my advice and re-registered IgalLichtman.com, that became available after remaining in the hands of squatters for a while.

Igal always infused advice in every transaction; at TRAFFIC 2010, where I first presented my ‘brain child’, DomainGang, he told me to focus on those that like what I did, and those that don’t can go f*ck themselves. There is no time for negativity in this world, and time is irreplaceable to waste on stressful agony over things outside of our control.

That same time, I met Igal’s wife, Michal, and two of their children, all of which projected a strong and very humane personality; Michal is a yoga teacher, and their children are students and entrepreneurs.

To me, what matters the most is the human side of the domain investor, trader and mentor, that Igal has been.

To the family of Igal Lichtman, I send my deepest sympathy and condolences. I am honored to have known him.

Farewell, Igal. Alav ha-shalom.

Addendum 2/26/2013: This post was lost in a database mishap, and was recovered thanks to the time and effort of Diego, whom I cannot thank enough.

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