Long time friend and IJKD member Al Ramirez, passed away on Sunday, October 23rd of apparent natural causes at the age of 54.

I met Al in 1987… He was a fellow student at Randy William’s "wing chun group" in South San Gabriel, CA… As Al and I became friends and Randy moved to Singapore, I began to teach Al Jeet Kune Do & Kali at my Chinatown School… Al and I became very close as we trained together during the Noon classes which had very few students… In 1994 I Co-Founded the LA Chinatown Citizens Safety Patrol with Henry Leong and Al jumped right in! In fact, without Al’s "gung ho" approach and help, "we couldn’t have done it "…

Al was a KLOS "Rock & Roll" Radio DJ and would constantly plug our Gung Fu Activities in Chinatown… He was a big help in the cohesiveness of our group… Al introduced me to the late Morgan Cavette who was a successful producer and manager in the music and entertainment industry in Hollywood… Morgan, Al and I co-produced my Panantukan, instructional video… We had a blast with it! Morgan, Al and I were invited backstage at the performance of Steppenwolf at the House of Blues in Hollywood… Through Morgan and Al, we were personal guests of the band… It was a night I’ll never forget…

I have many fond memories of Al and will never forget him… He was humurous, intelligent, loyal and dilligent… I miss him greatly…

"Big Al" Salude Mi Compadre…

Mark Stewart
Director
International Jeet Kune Do