When I heard the story, my initial reaction (in my mind) was, "Oh, well.. just forget it.. the man is no more.. ignore the email and move on in life! Don't dwell so much in it." But I kept quiet. I didn't share my thoughts with Ram. I quietly wondered, "I haven't had this experience myself, so who knows what I would actually do?"
What did Ram do? To reach closure, he actually replied to the email! His opening lines were, "Bob! I don't know where you are. But wherever you are, I'm sure that you can read this email. I thank you for ... (and so on)."
I smiled :)