![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/81667763_10_full.jpg\" "\\"81667763_10_full\\"")
<\/a>I had just attended his 50th<\/sup> birthday party in May, at his beloved Pony Bony Ranch, and observed, up-close and personal, the love that all his guests had for him. He spent hours just greeting everyone and taking pictures with all who wanted one. He seemed to be a very vibrant, upbeat man.<\/p>\nAnd a kind one, as well, which is where the real tragedy of his death comes in. His Dr. Frank Ryan Foundation is a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged and at-risk youth, and I\u2019ve seen it at work on his ranch. He invited some of the teens who have been helped by the foundation to dance at his birthday party, wowing the assemblage. And that\u2019s just a tiny bit of what his foundation has accomplished over the years. [To read more about it, please visit www.drfrankryan.org<\/span><\/span><\/a> or www.bonyponyranch.com<\/span><\/span><\/a>.]<\/p>\n Even his death proved to be one last, catastrophic lesson to kids, and adults, all over the country who may have read about it. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll ever know the exact details of his last minutes, but it\u2019s been reported by California Highway Patrol that he was texting while driving.<\/p>\n As I beg all my friends, please stop texting, and looking down at your phone in any way, when you\u2019re driving!!! It\u2019s gotten even worse since it\u2019s become illegal because now people try to hide what they\u2019re doing from any cops who may be around, so they hold their phones even lower. If someone so bright as Dr. Ryan can be distracted by texting, what chance do others have? I hope that everyone learns from this heartbreaking loss, and if his final lesson saves even one life, it will become as important a legacy as Dr. Ryan\u2019s charitable foundation is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DR. FRANK RYAN, R.I.P. \u00a0 Usually, if I\u2019m writing a tribute to someone, I know them really well. That wasn\u2019t the case with Dr. Frank Ryan, who lost his life when his jeep went over the side of the PCH in Malibu two days ago, but just meeting him a time or two made enough<\/p>\n