I first knew him as ?Mr. Alejandro?, our librarian at Xavier School who taught me the joy of reading and the magic of words. He had come to us after working as a librarian at the Ateneo de Manila University, his alma mater.

Then one day he left, and I didn?t see him again until more than 30 years later. I?d hear about him, now as Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro, the dancer, the choreographer. In college, I heard about him as one of the pioneers of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), giving theater new meaning and purpose with its summer plays at Fort Santiago.

Next thing I knew, I was reading about his work in theater and dance in New York. I didn?t know he had migrated to work at the New York Public Library, but he was able to continue his work in the arts, and more. He had stormed into the culinary scene as well.

Then his books began to appear in local stores. These were mostly coffee-table books, with lavish illustrations and profuse photographs. He had a knack for identifying good topics, and would assemble a team of contributors to produce the book. In most of his books, he managed to bring in discussions of food, together with recipes.

In total, he produced almost 40 books between 1972 and 2008, and even if I can only name a few here, I?m sure readers will recognize some of them: ?Sayaw,? ?Philippine Hospitality,? ?Pasko,? ?The Food of the Philippines,? ?Lamesa: The Filipino Table,? ?Selyo,? ?Pasig: River of Life,? ?Flowers of Baguio,? ?Laguna de Bay: The Living Lake,? ?The Adobo Book: Traditional and Jazzed Up Recipes,? ?Inukit Preserved: Carved Fruits and Vegetables,? ?Manila Bay: Crossroads of Asia,? ?Fiesta! Fiesta!?

Long lost friends

Then one evening, about 10 years ago, I finally met him at the house of a mutual friend. When I was introduced, he was exuberant. ?Pinoy Kasi,? he said. ?I read you all the time.? Ever respectful, I answered, ?Mr. Alejandro, you were our school librarian and you got me hooked on books.?

It was like we were long lost friends having a reunion, updating each other and promising to keep in touch. ?Mr. Alejandro? was now ?Ronnie? and we talked not just about books but about all things Filipino, and our own lives.

One time, he suggested to my friend, who was having problems deciding what to do with his life: ?Why don?t you go to culinary school?? He even suggested ?CIA,? the Culinary Institute of Aristocrat, partly amused by the way they had played with the name of the well known Culinary Institute of America. Before we parted, he assured me, ?He?ll find himself.?

Every time we?d meet, he?d ask when I could contribute an article for one of his books, and one time I did promise an article for a book he was planning about the askal (asong kalye or street dog, now rechristened aspinoy or Filipino dog). Alas, the book project didn?t push through.

I?d hear from him more often than see him, thanks to e-mail and text. One time, after I wrote a column about the Black Nazarene, he e-mailed and practically ordered me to do a piece for his new book. I finally did one article, for his ?Fiesta! Fiesta!?

I met up with him last year, when he flew here to launch the book. He was staying with Vicente Ramon ?Mike? Santos, who co-authored several of the more recent books with Ronnie. It was quite an experience visiting him, up on a hill in Antipolo, where Mike Santos had transported his ancestral home from Malabon, retaining the original architectural design and recycling many of the construction materials. Yes, there is a coffee table book about that house too, ?Tahanan: A House Reborn.?

Blessed

I knew that Ronnie was battling cancer. He had lost a lot of weight, but was as energetic as ever, never running out of stories and ideas for more books.

After the Antipolo reunion, there was silence and I wondered, and worried.

A few weeks ago, as I was walking around the Asian Development Bank area, I noticed a van parked in front of a building, loading books, all of them by Ronnie. Before I could ask where the books came from, almost as if on cue, I saw Ronnie stepping out of the lobby of a nearby building.

As I had suspected, it had been a difficult time for him, and he knew he was losing his battle with cancer. ?I?ve had a good life,? he told me as I held his hand. ?A very full life.?

He was in pain, and admitted to feeling drained of energy, but that didn?t mean he had stopped working. He asked if I could do one more article for still another book he was working on, about the 1960s. I agreed.

As I got up to leave, I told him my friend did enroll at the CIA and indeed, cooking had changed his life. Ronnie?s eyes lit up with the news. ?Come back next week,? he told me, ?I want him to have some of my cook books.?

When my friend and I went back to pick up the books, our jaws dropped. There were more than 50 books from all over the world. My friend cried and wanted to see Ronnie, but he had flown back to New York by then.

Two weeks ago, shortly after Cory Aquino?s funeral, Mike Santos called to say Ronnie had moved on. Mike later sent a packet of memorial cards. It had a quote from Maryknoll Sr. Joan Metzner: ?Some people enter our lives like deer slipping in and out of the woods. They touch our earth and we stop to look at them. They disappear as quietly as they came. But you feel blessed for having experienced their gentle presence. And you give thanks that the world is a better place because of the joy they brought.?

Ronnie did indeed slip in and out of many people?s lives, each time leaving us blessed. He is survived by domestic partner Ranilo, son Raniel, and siblings Nolando, Jacinto Jr., Joselito, Milagros, Sandy and Gerard.

Talks on Buddhism

My friends, Jim Ward and Shanti Isla of Bliss Café Baguio, are among the organizers of a series of talks by Gen Kelsang Tonglam, a Tibetan Buddhist monk of the New Kadampa Tradition. The scheduled talks are ?Pure Light,? Aug. 20, 7 to 8:30 p.m. (Conspiracy Café, 59 Visayas Ave., Quezon City), ?Inspiration,? Aug. 21, 8:30 p.m. at Peta (5 Sunnyside Drive, Quezon City, behind QC Sports Club), ?Clarity,? Aug. 22, 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Universal Wisdom Foundation (8 Gilmore cor. 1st Street, Quezon City), ?The Root Mind,? Aug. 22, 8 to 9:30 p.m. (ISIP Center, 6241 Palma cor. Manalac St., Makati) and ?Taking and Giving,? Aug. 23, 2 to 5 p.m. (Charter House, 114 Legaspi St., Makati).