You might have never known this, but Rush Limbaugh was my best friend at one point in time.

The year was 2011. I had just come back from a year in Eretz Yisrael and I started something new. A new school, in a new town with no one I knew. In between class I’d run to my car for a break, grab some food and dial up the radio. One morning the radio reset, and 770 AM started blasting. My conservative talk-radio days would begin. I never missed a month; I never missed a week; and for the past five years, never a day.

When I was young, maybe 9 or 10, my mother used to play this guy who called himself El Rushbo. Later I’d find out that it was Mr. Rush Limbaugh.

Rush is like an uncle to me; he has been there for the good, the bad and the ugly. His wisdom, debonair wit, brevity, and just simple love for life are what made him stick out. Aside from being a pioneer—and then a titan—in the radio and broadcasting arena, he was also simply a good man.

Rush was a large part of my inspiration for creating my own brands and companies. He gave some of the best advice to millennials, entrepreneurs and blue-collar workers. Better than anyone else … and I’ve heard everyone else. It wasn’t just about what Rush did for me (and over 15 million listeners a week), it was what he was able to bring out of every soul he was able to reach.

My afternoons will never be the same. Life won’t ever be the same. But I will prevail. I’m deeply saddened by the loss of Rush. I know he’s with us in spirit on the waves of radio. Again, thank you for the cherished memories, Doctor of Democracy, America’s Anchorman and Maharaja! Thoughts are with Kathryn, the Limbaughs, Cookie, Mr. Snerdley, Dawn and the rest of the gang.

The love I had for Rush is like the love I have for a rabbi, chaver or fellow yid. Your “talent on loan from God,” as you used to say, is now back home. Bless you. Bless you.