Words from Marcin Szary:
“I’m calling with some very sad news.” That is how I began dozens of phone calls over the past week. We said goodbye to Tomek — although I find it easier to hold on to the image of a boat disappearing beyond the horizon, only to appear somewhere else, beyond the reach of our sight.
“My business partner has died.” I said those words many times to people close to me and to those more distant. And I often felt they did not fully understand. I never blamed them for it, because I don’t think I fully understood either how many roles Tomek played in my life beyond the obvious one, the one easily described in business terms. There were many more — and many of them far more important than that primary, obvious role.
“This is Tomek — my second wife.” That is how I often introduced him, sometimes jokingly and sometimes seriously, often in defiance of convention, surrounded by suits and serious negotiations. After the initial confusion, I would explain that I had known him longer than my “first” wife, that we trusted each other completely, that we spent as much time together — sometimes even more — and that we shared a beloved child: our company.
And in this role of being my “second wife,” Tomek was, in many ways, my model of what it means to be a man. He embodied a thought that came to me only a few weeks before he passed away: that the measure of a man is how many fires he can stop from spreading beyond himself. Tomek stopped every fire that came his way. He did it with a dignity, calmness, and consistency that were often beyond my own reach.
My friend is gone. My brother, mentor, companion, and anchor.
And while I know that on a personal level this loss will echo within me for many years to come, I find myself returning to the principles of logotherapy developed by Viktor Frankl. When I ask myself, “What does life expect from me right now?” the answer comes almost immediately. My moral obligation to Tomek now is to continue the dream we built together — the dream of creating a truly remarkable company, both internally and in the world around it.
And so I make this promise publicly: with all the strength I have, and with the support of the extraordinary people who have surrounded me during this difficult time, I will do everything in my power to ensure that Secfense continues to grow in the way Tomek would have wanted.
