PHILADELPHIA – He motivated others to get the most out of their lives – but had his abruptly taken away.
Philadelphia business and community leader Kenneth Harold Bridges, 53, was shot dead while gassing up a rental car in Massaponax, Va., Friday – leaving the self-help guru the eighth victim killed by the psycho sniper.
“It’s a waste,” said Bill Keyes, 66, Bridges’ classmate at the Wharton School of Business. “He was such a good businessman and a good person.”
Bridges spent much of his career motivating black people to make better lives for themselves – a role which made him a prominent figure in Philadelphia’s African-American community.
Walt Gardiner, 75, said he’s a better man because of Bridges.
In the early 1980s he bought a collection of Bridges’ motivational tapes, which he said inspired him to begin a successful career selling Amway products.
“He taught us how to be the best person we could be,” Gardiner said. “As a motivational speaker he was amazing. He built an amazing business.”
He was the president of the MATAH network, which like Amway markets a wide range of products but is geared toward the African-American consumer.
Friends and family gathered at the Bridges’ Germantown home yesterday to remember the beloved father and caring community leader.
Fred Tookes, 44, said his friend’s grieving widow, Jocelyn, still can’t believe her husband is gone.
“She’s just holding on,” Tookes said. “It’s a shock, a total shock to have someone taken from you. She misses him terribly.”
Family spokesman Gary Shepard – a popular local radio personality – said the Bridges are angry it took seven hours before they were notified of Ken’s death and are also hurt that no public officials called to offer condolences.
HER MESSAGE TO GOD
On this day I give you thanks for giving me this retirement.
Thank you, because I know I will find myself with you and I know you will always be with me. Blessed be.
Help me to continue to serve and follow you.
I know you will help me come into my heart, into my mind and I ask you for all my family and son.
I know you will always take care of them. You will not abandon us. God, blessed be always. Amen.
– Sara Ramos in a letter she wrote at a Christian retreat just days before she was gunned down.