The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: strkpr00 on June 06, 2020, 06:01:47 PM
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Just to let everybody on here know, Mike Bender, of Bender's Tropical Grove passed away this week. Bought many trees from Mike, He could always locate what I was looking for. RIP
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Wish all the best to his family.
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That is really sad to hear. I was looking to go over there soon.
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Very sad. I bought my first few trees from him after seeing the OKraw video on YouTube. RIP
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O man, terrible news.
The majority of the trees I have planted came from him.
Very sad day.
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Sad day, indeed. Ironic, I was reading his Facebook feed just this morning and learned he was ill. When I saw the title to your post, I knew what the news was going to be. Super nice guy, all the best to his family in their time of grief.
May he Rest In Peace.
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RIP.I just watched his grove video made by Okraw.https://youtu.be/pel0PJIBMfI
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I am so saddened to hear this news. May he rest in a beautiful garden full of family, friends and fruit.
Simon
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Mike was a stand up guy, always honest, and this is very sad news indeed. I bought tons of fruit and a few trees from him over the years. My deepest sympathy for his family. I'll definitely miss him.
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Very nice man. I bought a few trees from him. I hope that his passing was peaceful and that he finds fruit trees in heaven with gorgeous perfect fruit!
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Mike was a nice guy, he will be missed.
May his memory live on and his enthusiasm for exotic fruits continue to inspire.
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Mike Bender, a member of our forum, passed away yesterday morning. :'( It's so sad. I hopped he would pull through. Rest in peace, Mike!
https://www.facebook.com/michael.bender.16752 (https://www.facebook.com/michael.bender.16752)
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Mike Bender, a member of our forum, passed away yesterday morning. :'( It's so sad. I hopped he would pull through. Rest in peace, Mike!
https://www.facebook.com/michael.bender.16752 (https://www.facebook.com/michael.bender.16752)
Shocked to hear the news :( I didn't know he was suffering from cancer. A couple of months ago, I called him to ask if he had a San Pablo custard apple. He said he was down with pneumonia and asked me to call him back after a couple of months.
Rest in peace, Mike!
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Bummer indeed, R.I.P-Mike
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Mike posted on Facebook on January 28:
Other than having to completely change my diet, quit smoking and drinking I feel great! I smoked cigarettes for many years so this is alone on me, but I quit cold turkey and have not had a single one since the diagnosis.
Mike was way too young to die. He wanted to spend many more years enjoying his family. God, how I wish this could be a wake-up call for all the smokers out there, which I don't say in a preachy way but with total sincerity and concern.
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R.I.P Mike, Love and prayers to your family
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RIP Mike.
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Rest In Peace Mike Bender, and best wishes and healing to family as they grieve.
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All of this lady’s posts I find idiotic but this one was certainly more offensive and thoughtless than most. I try to skip over her posts , I find them so stupid .
Mike Bender was an original. One of a kind.
Glad I got to meet him and it is clear his charisma and personalty touched alot of people.
I’m glad he got to do what he loved with the fruit tree’s and share the joy of exotic fruit tree’s with all kinds of folks. Gone but not forgotten.
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I only met Mike a couple of times, I got my Caimito trees from him and some fruit. Just meeting him the times I did I knew him to be frank, and honest. So sad, I hope smokers on these pages give more thought to quitting smoking.
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I think that if you never met the person or somehow belonged to his circle it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to comment. Sure we all have to die someday and leave everything behind. I saw the link to Mike's Facebook page so I looked it over. And when I saw his reference to smoking causing his cancer and all the reforms in lifetstyle he was making, that made me really sad. Thus my plea to the smokers among our members. I think Mike would have approved because he mentioned that he had so much to keep living for, and so do we all--our families, friends, community, and passions, including our plants and trees.
On the other hand, a weird off-the-wall comment doesn't bother me as much as it does some of you guys.
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I met Mike when he was working at PIN about 20 years ago when I was converting my yard from citrus to mangoes and avocados. I really looked forward to going out with him in the cart to pick up trees and chat. By coincidence we discovered that he grew up in Brooklyn right by my grandmother’s house and my dad’s grocery store. We used to go to the same movie theatre and knish store. I loved being with him as 2 Brooklyn kids who used to play in the park were now sharing the same interests in ag. A strange twist of fate for 2 guys like us from Brooklyn!
A great simple man he was and of course I will miss him. Right now I’m really sorry that I never went up to see his place.
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RIP Mike B.
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cmon guys, this thread is getting sidetracked, disrespectful to Bender's memory.
Very bummed to hear this. I've traded trees with him several times over the years. I always referred folks to him, as he was always a great source for hard-to-finds. Always liked going to his place.
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My very first tree, an Edward was from Mike - and so were a good half dozen others over the years. I'll miss his dogs coming up to lick me at the gate and watching him saunter down the row of 3 gallon trees lining his driveway. And his yard was as interesting as his personality. I always recommended him to anyone in the area looking for a good deal on a tree or some fresh fruit. He was a local legend.
The fruiting community, particularly those of us out in West Broward have really lost something special out here.
Rest in peace, Mr. Bender.
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What a shame. R.I.P. Mike. I was over to his place ten times through the years. He has lots of trees planted. I hope this continues. He could move a lot of fruit trees. One time I was there, every tree I wanted, they were all reserved for one man ordering 50.
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Thanks for letting us know. I only met Mike once and remain glad I did. God’s peace be with his family at this time.
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Very sad to hear. Never had the pleasure to meet Mike Bender, but we corresponded. He sent me some great stuff, including a rare black Galaxy mango. So he will always be well remembered and live on in his trees.
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His daughter says on Facebook that he said he didn't like people. You'd never know it. Always helpful. I guess he probably just liked trees (and animals/dogs) more, and I suspect there's a lot of us who feel the same!
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His daughter says he said he didn't like people. You'd never know it. Always helpful. I guess he probably just liked trees (and animals/dogs) more, and i suspect there's a lot of us who feel the same!
Huh?
Honestly. I'd never make such a statement up. From his daughter Stephanie on his Facebook page:
For a man that claimed to not like people, he sure had a lot of people that liked him.
My point is I totally get it. A lot of us probably feel you can depend on trees and dogs more than you can other humans!
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I was pretty shook up when I heard this. Mike was a great guy - full of life. I considered him a friend and chatted with him often on a variety of things unrelated to our mutual crazy fruit obsessions. The man lived for his daughter and grandson.
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Sad to hear about this. Was trying to reach him the last couple weeks and just came across this news.
RIP Mike
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Drove by Mikes old place, it is up for sale. Turn key fruit grove.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14800-SW-31st-Ct-Davie-FL-33331/43145865_zpid/ (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14800-SW-31st-Ct-Davie-FL-33331/43145865_zpid/)