Jeff Wagner, passion for life and justice

June 19, 2012 was the date that Multiple Sclerosis took the life of a 53-year old man named Jeff Wagner.

It was a progressive, humbly disease that Jeff had struggled with for well over ten years.

MS significantly affected him, but it would not define him.

Fresh out of law school in the mid-1980's, this confident, idealistic young man became an assistant Hennepin County Public Defender. The similarities to Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" were there throughout his twenty years of public service to the citizens of Hennepin County.

That is, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wagner both believed that lost causes were the only ones worth fighting.

The bulk of his professional career was tirelessly spent representing and advocating for juvenile services, including delinquency, truancy and children in need of protective services.

It was not just in the courtroom that Jeff displayed passion.

Talking a mile a minute, he would knead the dough and bake bread with his beloved grandmother Marie. He would assume the role of "Master and Commander" aboard our father's sailboat, barking orders to trim the main.

Towards the end of his life he refused to slow down, he would operate his electric wheelchair at full-throttle as if it was a 1970's vintage muscle car Pontiac GTO.

Of all his passions, the greatest was his love for his two daughters, Hannah and Rose.

Jeff's engaging personality was always evident as he took the soapbox with family and social events with friends, although, his soul-mates were his compadres at the Fairview MS Achievement Center.

Mitch Albom in his book "For One More Day" writes: "When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone. They can come back to you even at unlikely times."

Merry Christmas brother Jeff, you have been with us every day.