Read at Paul’s Sukhavati – October 23, 2025 My name is Andrew. I’m in Halifax with my wife Wendy and Brenda Wegener. And I’m just going to say a few words about Paul on behalf of Brenda. Paul is someone who is very difficult to encapsulate. He came from an extraordinary family, and had a full and impactful life, affecting the world in profound ways. Some words to describe him: bigger than life, intensely curious, incapable of being anything other than loyal to his teachers, sangha, friends, family and inventors. A very active mind, that turned over scientific, political, and environmental possibilities ceaselessly. Paul ended his days here in Nova Scotia, during a practice program on the Kingdom of Shambhala, actually listening to that program from his hospital room when he passed. As Paul was someone who was deeply committed to the Vidyadhara’s vision, Brenda believes he would have been content about the circumstances of his death. Paul was born into a German family of distinguished scientists and artists. His grandfather, after whom he was named and who he closely resembled, was one of the famous pioneers of German Expressionist cinema. Another relative, Alfred Wegener formulated the theory of continental drift. Paul’s father, Peter Wegener, was a physicist and worked during World War II on the Luftwaffe’s V-2 rocket program. When the War ended, like other German scientists Peter Wegener was scooped up by American intelligence – the famous Operation Paperclip - and brought to the United States. Thus owing to the winds of history, Paul was born in Washington D.C. – this was 1948. The family settled soon in Pasadena where Paul grew up. He had strong scientific training a bachelor’s from the California Institute of Technology followed by a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins in their new Ecology program. In the place of his birth - Washington DC - Paul first saw and was mesmerized by Trungpa Rinpoche – this was in the early 1970s. Then followed five years at Karme Choling where Paul worked on the facilities team. As throughout his life, Paul was a tireless fixer of things. At one point his room at Karme Choling was the root cellar – Brenda understands that this was so he would have privacy and could get more “action.” Paul moved to Boulder in 1978 and became a vivid part of the Trungpa Rinpoche’s indescribable mandala there. He was a regular Kasung and a member of the Explorers of the Phenomenal World. He worked as a landscaper - many years later, Paul would contribute greatly to the landscaping of the Great Stupa at RMDC. A job posting to San Diego in the mid-80s caused Paul to encounter Brenda – to whom he experienced an irresistible, thunderbolt-like, lasting attraction. Brenda’s children, Katie and Jacqueline, and later Brenda’s many grand-children became Paul’s family. In 1990, the family moved to Halifax and that was the start of Paul’s career helping inventors. There was a lot to this career, but it all started with Paul’s intense interest in scientific ideas, and a burning desire to see those actually reach the people who would benefit from them. This attitude made him invaluable, and indeed lovable, to the inventors fortunate to encounter him. For Paul would in effect put their inventions on his back and carry them as far as he could - without any limit to his commitment of time, energy or his own financial resources. I’ll mention two inventors specially, and not just because they are both here this evening by Zoom: Dr. Yukihiko Hara from Japan and Dr. Saverio Bettuzzi from Italy. Dr. Hara, beginning as the head research scientist for the Japanese tea company Mitsui Norin, has assuredly done more than any other person to demonstrate the profound health benefits of purified green tea catechins. In this effort Paul has been an unfailing support for the last 30 years. It was through their joint efforts that the first pharmaceutical botanical drug was approved 15 years ago. And it was also due to their combined efforts that a drug development company for green tea pharmaceutical was established in NYC in 2006. That company’s main mission was to develop the discovery of Dr. Bettuzzi, Paul’s friend and collaborator for 30 years, that green tea catechins inhibited progression towards prostate cancer. Even up to recent times, Paul has been working with Saverio on demonstrating inhaled green tea’s beneficial effects for those suffering with the Covid virus. Paul never retired from his work – just this Spring he travelled to a naval testing facility in New Jersey to test in their massive tanks a design for generating power through wave energy – the Waveberg. Paul has been working on bringing this technology to the world since the early 2000s, even though its inventor Mr. Berg had long since passed away. To conclude: as Brenda said today – Paul’s presence was so big, and therefore his absence is as well. That feels very true.