Gene- just heard that Brendan Lai passed away- true?.
Its a loss to the KF community.
who was he?
Was he the son of Bruke Lei … lol . joking?
Brendan Lai was a very well known master of a northern praying mantis tyle, a great teacher, a great impressario-involved in bringing the Beijing wushu teams over early on and a major martial arts supplier in san Francisco.
He died ??? Oh snap!!! Thats terrible! He wasn’t that old, what happened? :eek: 
Last I heard, he was still alive in a medical care facility on a dialysis machine.
There were threads in the Southern and Praying Mantis forums about him passing away.
Brandon Lai
The family wants his passing to go quietly, so there was some initial hesitance about posting threads. We certainly want to respect their wishes.
It’s very sad since Master Lai was a tremondous pioneer in the Martial arts scene, not only here in the SF area but across the country since he was one of the first mail order martial arts suppliers that imported out of China. I still remeber the first time I went to his shop on mission and bought my first spear. What a shining day that was! And what a magical store, in a very nasty neighborhood. But I had my spear, so no problem. I still dropped by that store when I had the chance in the city. Haven’t been by there is some time, but I’llalways remember it.
Oh man that’s sad. Wasn’t he too young to die? Man he’s going to be missed. Really liked his demos.
May he rest in peace.
I completely understand Gene.
The very first Kwan Do I purchased was from his store on Mission. Way back in the day! So, I know exactly what you mean. Master Lai met me at the door when I first walked in. We talked a little bit about Mantis, because at the time I was studying from Sifu Baugh. It was definetly a true honor to meet such a great Master, and such a down to earth guy!
My sincere condolences to the family, as well as to the Mantis community.
Jason