With the passing of Mike Meeks, the Edmonds community mourns the loss of one of its pillars, who by some reports “knew more people and had more friends” than anyone else in town.
His passing was sudden and shocking.
On Thursday, Oct. 17, Mike and Katherine — his wife of 49 years — were returning to Seattle from a Mediterranean vacation with friends. The trip included stops in Greece and Turkey, and in classic Mike Meeks style was filled with interactions with people he met, turning casual acquaintances into fast friends with his signature smile, laugh and personal warmth.
As he and Katherine exited the airplane after the 12-and-a-half-hour flight from Istanbul, Mike suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness in the jetway.
“It was so sudden,” Katherine Meeks said. “One minute he was there, and the next he wasn’t.”
Mike Meeks was rushed to Valley General Hospital. Despite no signs of brain activity, he was put on life support in the ICU. He never regained consciousness, and the next day the family made the painful decision to disconnect the machinery. A fighter to the end, he continued breathing on his own, finally succumbing on Saturday.
To say Meeks was a pillar of the community only begins to do justice to his larger-than-life presence over the more than four decades when he lived, worked and touched innumerable lives in Edmonds.
“He and Katherine were among the first people we met when we moved to Edmonds,” said Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen, a long-time friend. “That laugh – you knew he was in the area long before you could see him, and it signaled it was going to be a great evening.”
Meeks grew up shuffling between Boise and Spokane, where he showed an early talent for math and began what would become a life-long passion for sports and physical activity.
“He was active in intramural baseball and basketball, and played center on his eighth-grade basketball team,” Katherine recalled. “Imagine that – a short guy like Mike playing center. But like everything else he did, he could sure jump high!”
His love of sports and staying active followed him throughout his life. In addition to helping him stay fit, team sports and physical activity also fed his all-consuming passion for people.
“Mike was a charter member of the Harbor Square Athletic Club when we opened 40 years ago,” recalled Club Membership Manager Greg Boland. “He brought a positive energy to the place right from the start, and was a natural magnet for racquetball players, forming morning groups for more than 25 years. He was known around here for his positive attitude, energy and behind-the-scenes good deeds like organizing fundraisers. One that comes to mind was helping fund the purchase of an electronic walking aid for our long-time employee Micah Walker [who suffers from cerebral palsy]. His contributions to the club were extensive and largely unrecognized.
“Then the pickleball craze hit, and Mike jumped in with both feet,” Boland continued. “He organized groups, scheduled games and never lost a chance to promote pickleball and convince new folks to try the sport – sometimes with a bit of arm-twisting.”
“He put together a Facebook group for us pickleballers,” added Shelly Coe, an avid player and one who was personally touched by Meeks’ bubbly enthusiasm. “He was always sending out videos, hints on how to improve our game and alerting us to pickleball-related events around the area. The courts won’t be the same without his laugh and camaraderie.”
After finishing high school in Spokane, Meeks attended Gonzaga where he graduated in 1969 with a bachelor of arts in accounting. A job offer from Arthur Andersen brought him to this side of the mountains, but shortly after that job offer was drafted into the Army, where his accounting talents got him assigned to a clerk’s job at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
After the Army, he held a variety of accounting jobs in the Seattle area. In 1974, while living in an apartment in the Eastlake neighborhood, he struck up a friendship with his neighbor – Katherine. The two hit it off, love bloomed and they were married in 1975.
“We enjoyed exploring the Puget Sound area together and were particularly fond of making the trek north to Edmonds for lunch at our favorite place, Brusseau’s,” Katherine recalled with a smile. “We really loved the town and together made a conscious decision to locate here. We made the move in 1982, and in 1986 built our house on Euclid Avenue — it’s been our home ever since.”
“One of the first things Mike did in Edmonds was join Rotary,” Katherine added. “I suppose the official reason was to help promote his new business, but Mike was such a people guy I’m sure the chance to make social connections was a big – maybe bigger – part of it. People were like oxygen for him.
“One of Mike’s big joys was bringing people together,” she continued. “He loved connecting folks, arranging parties, attending fundraisers, and then shame his tablemates into bidding generously. He was fearless about asking folks to donate.”
In 1982 Mike joined forces with fellow accountant Chris McDevitt to start their own practice in Edmonds.
McDevitt and Meeks continued building their accounting firm, branding themselves as your “Edmonds Kind of CPA’s.” In 1991 they decided to split their partnership and branch out on their own, which left Meeks the sole occupant of their office space. Shortly after, he merged with another local firm run by Nancy Ekrem and Doug Dewar.
“Our lease was expiring,” explained Ekrem, “and with McDevitt’s departure Mike needed roommates for his office space. So we merged, branding the new enterprise Dewar, Meeks and Ekrem, and that began a long and productive working relationship for us – we ended up working together until Mike retired in 2018. That’s a lot of years.
“Mike was a bigger-than-life connector,” Ekrem continued, “whatever problem anyone had — be it a legal counsel or a plumber — Mike would be out there finding a connection to make it right, This sometimes came out in unexpected ways, like the time I came to work and discovered napkins, paper plates and other stuff strewn about the office. Turns out Rotary needed a place to store the materials for their corn-on-the-cob booth at the Monroe Fair, and Mike, who was chairing that committee, offered our office as a staging area – but in his enthusiasm spaced out telling the rest of us. That’s so Mike – we just never knew what was going to show up.
“Mike was one of a kind,” she added. “To me, he was like a stand-up comic accountant. It may sound like an oxymoron, but those two words make sense for Mike. He always had people coming into his office – right next to mine – laughing with them, regaling them with stories about his latest vacation, and generally checking in, asking what’s been happening in their lives, new children, grandchildren, etc. etc. It’s just who he is.”
Former Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling recalls Meeks as an unsung hero in shaping Edmonds’ downtown and bringing it out of the “Deadmonds” era into the vibrant place residents enjoy today.
“Mike arrived on the scene when we were building the core effort to revitalize our downtown,” Earling recalled. “Even though our grant requests to the state’s Main Street Program were not successful, Mike was instrumental in getting the state’s director to let us use some of the expertise he’d assembled, and to move us toward keeping the special character of our downtown and not going the way of Ballard with taller buildings, etc.
“He wasn’t high-profile about it, and much of what he did was behind the scenes,” Earling added. “But he played a key role in creating the downtown we see today, and without his efforts I believe things could have easily turned out differently.”
Earling also spoke of Meeks’ generosity, and his enthusiastic support of many community fundraisers where he’d buy several tables, fill them with like-minded friends and community boosters, and cheerlead them into raising paddles and bidding up auction items. His generosity went beyond money – he also freely gave of his time, serving on various boards and service clubs.
“He was at the core of the community,” Earling added. “One of the major people – and his enthusiasm was totally infectious, never failing to get others involved.”
Another great love of Meeks’ – that he only discovered in his later years – was travel.
“When we were first married, he didn’t want to leave his work, but as he got closer to retirement, he caught the travel bug really bad,” Katherine observed with a smile.
She stressed how her husband’s deeply ingrained love of people followed him when he traveled and enriched the experience for everyone.
“I think most people travel primarily to see new things and broaden their perspectives,” she said. “But for Mike, the big joy was meeting, talking with, and getting to know people from all walks of life, backgrounds, interests – the entire spectrum of human diversity. And this was great for us – his traveling companions – as it introduced a whole new perspective to what we were experiencing on our travels.”
It’s hard to sum up a life lived by Mike Meeks. Katherine perhaps said it best when she observed that he was a builder, a force who brought people and things together with kindness, humor and devotion.
She described Meeks as a patriot, but not the flag-waving kind. Rather, his patriotism grew from his deep belief that the nation’s fabric is woven at the community level, and that he lived that every day.
“He didn’t have to wave the flag or need to see his name in lights,” she added. “He showed it in deeds, in his love of people, and in laying the brick and mortar – mostly behind the scenes – that built the community.”
Mike Meeks is survived by his wife Katherine, his son David and daughter Elizabeth, brother Charles and grandson Jack. The family is expecting a new arrival in November, when Elizabeth is due to give birth to what would have been Meeks’ second grandchild. The family is planning for a memorial after the first of the year.
— By Larry Vogel
This is stunning news! Mike has been a good friend for many years, starting when he first did our tax returns decades ago. He was always happy and a bundle of positive energy. He was one of a kind and will be deeply missed.
Mike was our CPA but also a good friend. Our kids went to school together & one day our daughter (Becca) came home raving about her new boyfriend named David. This went on for some time. We finally discovered his last name & made the connection. For years afterward we’d chuckle with Mike about that!
Larry, what a lovely story for such a wonderful man. Mike was such a great guy with so many stories, jokes, giggles and joy to give and he ALWAYS had that twinkle in his eye. I will miss him daily as we always worked out at the same time. My deepest sympathy to his family and many prayers your way. Mike will be missed for a long time.
Many of us will miss Mike, his loss will be felt by so many. Mike was part of Edmonds and Edmonds was part of Mike. Farewell my friend. Jay
I am deeply saddened by the passing of Mike, not just for myself and Gail, but for our city of Edmonds. His constant humor, passion for life, and genuine interest in other people– in reality, anyone he met can’t be matched by anybody I know. When you met Mike, you knew that you had just made a new friend. Our hearts go out to his wife, Katherine, and his extended family.
Mike Meeks was one of Edmonds’ greatest ambassadors and cheerleaders! His professional work and personal energy were always focused on improving our community and enhancing personal relationships. His support of nonprofit organizations was unequaled. How lucky were we to have Mike in our community! What an amazing guy!
Randy and I send our most sincere condolences to Katherine and the extended Meeks family, as well as to his Dewar, Meeks + Ekrem (now DME) family, and furthermore to the all those who knew him. He truly was all about the Edmonds community. We met Mike about 25 years ago, and trusted him thereafter as our personal and business CPA until his retirement. We were shocked when we heard the news of his passing, and really still can’t quite believe it. He was such a joy to know, and a good human who will be incredibly missed by many.
Great article Larry – you captured the Mike we knew and loved! Mike was one of a kind – full of enthusiasm and always ready to help. We briefly met at Arthur Andersen in the early 1970’s and got reacquainted in the mid 1980’s when I moved my firm to Edmonds. We merged in the early 1990’s (with Nancy Ekrem) and I greatly enjoyed our friendship for the past 35 years. His never-ending contributions to the community will be missed. My sympathies to Katherine, David and Elizabeth.
My wife and I had the good fortune to meet Mike soon after we moved to Edmonds in 2016. Mike was one of the funniest, kindest, and most civic minded people we have ever met.
His love of and devotion to Edmonds and its citizens burned with passion for all who knew him to see..
But Mike only sought to do things to better the community, never for personal recognition – he was truly a “One of one”.
Our hearts go out to Katherine and the entire Meeks family – Mike will truly be missed by all of us.
Thank you Larry, for this beautifully written tribute to a very special man.
What shocking news to wake up to. I’m stunned.
Yes, thank you Larry for this heartwarming story of Mike. I just saw him and waved to him at Harbor Square a few weeks ago – he looked great. I met Mike at Rotary and found him to be everything described in your beautiful tribute.
I still have the photo of him in the white lab coat and stethoscope- Dr CPA – on my desktop, along with some of his silly and corny jokes he knew I appreciated and frequently sent me. My deepest and heartfelt condolences to Katherine and his family.
Rest in peace Mike.
Mike made Edmonds a better place. I’ll miss his birthday wishes to me that were always entertaining. And the very creative Christmas cards !!! And his incomparable sense of humor. He can’t be replaced but will be remembered fondly. Our thoughts and prayers are with Katherine and the family.
Our deepest condolences. Looked forward to seeing Mike every time he came in. What a remarkable life he had.
I worked for Mike as a CPA for 15 years. He was one of the kindest individuals I’ve ever met. He never spoke badly of anyone and I do not recall a single time in 15 years where he yelled or was angry at anyone. That’s saying a lot because tax season could get pretty stressful. This article is so correct in aaying he wasn’t interested in being in the limelight for his good deeds. Right after my divorce, my life was kind of a mess. We had the end of season tax party at my house. My lawn was long (who has time to mow during tax season) and when I tried to mow it right before, the mower broke. A few days later I got a call that an anonymous person had paid to have my yard cleaned up. That was Mike to the core. He was an inspiration and mentor to all his staff. I take comfort in knowing he lived each day to the fullest and wouldn’t have wanted linger. My deepest condolences to Katherine, David, Liz and the rest of his family. He will be greatly missed.
I knew Mike primarily through the fantasy football league in which we both participated for more than 40 years — yes, it’s still going. Mike willingly took on the league’s thankless clerical, financial and technical chores, for which he cheerfully accepted the moniker “The Lowly Scribe.” I remember meeting Mike at his Edmonds office and walking down the street to have lunch. Everyone knew Mike, and Mike knew everyone. He was Mr. Edmonds.
FWIW, at the time of his death, Mike’s team was 5-1 and leading the league in points.
Condolences to his family.
I didn’t know Mike but saw him on the streets for many years..he always smiled
Mike was my first boss out of college at Community Care Center. Imagine that Mike working at a company where care was involved. As a rookie accountant Mike was a great teacher, showing remarkable patience with me. Mike then got me into his Fantasy Football League. As Eric said it in his post Mike did the dirty work, taking the well intended abuse always with a laugh.
Such a great guy.
What a beautiful tribute to a beautiful life. We were all so lucky to be on this Earth at the same time as Mike. Though I only knew him for about a year, his energy and joy were incredible and I’m forever grateful to have been in his company. Condolences to Katherine and family.
Mike was a great friend to Rock and I, and an amazing community leader. His love of his town extended to his many friends, and he will be sorely missed. Condolences to Katherine and his entire family.
Our world will not be the same without Mike. The space he occupied among us can never be filled. His jokes, laughter, and his Twain-like witticism will forever sustain my memory of him.
Sending my sincerest sympathy to the grieving family and his closest of friends,
On behalf of the Edmonds College Foundation, we extend our heartfelt condolences on the passing of Mike Meeks. Mike was not only a cherished member of our board but also a respected leader, devoted parent, husband, and a steadfast pillar within the Edmonds community. His commitment to service was evident in his work with numerous nonprofits and his unwavering dedication to those around him. We share our deepest sympathies with Katherine, the entire Meeks family, his colleagues at Dewar, Meeks + Ekrem (now DME), and all who had the privilege of knowing him. Mike’s legacy of community spirit and leadership will be remembered and missed by many.
Mike was a friend and colleague of mine for nearly 50 years. He was a student of mine when I was a professor. Then he became a work colleague of mine. He and Katherine were and are close friends for most of those years. We traveled together. We had dinners many times each year. He loved to play practical jokes that showed that he cared. This piece written captures his spirit and soul accurately. For anyone who was graced with the gift of his presence, his loss is a profound hole that simply cannot be filled. Thank you for marking his passage.
I only knew Mike for the past year, but he left a very real impression on me that I see many others shared. He was kind, funny, and passionate. The Edmonds community has suffered a great loss but Mike has left us with his example and legacy and for that we are all better off. I am very grateful to have known him.
Larry, you were the perfect person to write Mike’s story. The news is so shocking and feels surreal. It’s hard to believe he’s not going to be here in person anymore. He will be missed by so many. You are so right – he was true Pillar and cornerstone. Everything you said embodied all the wonder Mike brought to our community on so many fronts. Am so grateful I also had the privilege of getting to know and experience such a remarkable person – so full of life, fun, adventure, creativity, altruism and so much more! I will always smile when I think of the story he shared about meeting Katherine! Thank you Mike and Katherine for choosing Edmonds.
If ever there was an asset to a community it was Mike. Peggy and I are shocked and saddened to hear of his passising. He was an inspriation, a pillar of Edmonds, and an all around fun guy. He will be deeply missed. Peggy and I send our sincere condolances to his family and friends.
A wonderful and true friend. A quirky and fun kind of person! He will definitely be missed. Condolences to his family and DME. ❤️
“That’s my partner!”
I am deeply saddened to learn about Mr. Meeks’s terrible news. I know Mike as a tireless volunteer, a community connector, and an energetic pickleball player. My condolences to Katherine and the extended Meeks family.
— The Chen family.
Eloquently written, Larry. Thank you so much for sharing Mike’s story – a beautiful tribute to a beautiful life. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike and Katherine Meeks at HSAC many years ago. I soon learned that his exuberance in spin class and his positive energy, was just that – “bigger than life”! He lit up every space he entered, whether it was the gym, the pickleball courts, the ECA, or Main Street, Mike’s sunny personality could be felt around town. Mike Meeks was “Mr Edmonds”. He touched so many lives with his generosity and engagement in our city!
I am so deeply saddened by our community’s huge loss! Mike loved Edmonds and Edmonds will always love and remember Mike Meeks!
We concur with all the many inspiring comments regarding Mike. He will be missed, but always remembered. Our condolences to the family..
Mike was a one-man Chamber of Commerce! Always a smile and a warm greeting. I met Mike almost 20 years ago and sought his counsel as a client of his firm. He was always so helpful.
I was shocked to learn of his sudden passing.
If ever there was an Ambassador for this community it was Mike. I will miss him
Mike had the magic gift of making tax time funny. Not an easy thing to do.
I am sorry for your loss Katherine, David and Liz, he will be missed.
Every time I had the JOY of seeing Mike around Edmonds or during my time working at HSAC, he was such a light, so funny and energetic! During the 100th birthday celebration for Edmonds in 1990, I was lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time with Mike at different city events, Chamber Meetings and celebrations around Edmonds. He was one of those people I was always excited to see and felt happier & encouraged after seeing him. Mike had such a sincere and genuine way with people that added so much positive to the people around him. I will miss him very much! What a wonderful tribute on here to such a fantastic man!
Fond memories of Mike my cousin, got to say he was a rascal…….Mike worked his way through college at UPS as a truck washer where I was cashiering for receipts coming in…
Very sad news. Mike took care of our business and personal taxes for years. Our annual meetings were a bright spot in the otherwise dreary tax season.
Sincere condolences to his family, former co-workers, and his many, many friends.
Mike was an amazing human being with a heart of gold!
I was a client of his since the Walnut Street office. It was a good long run!
My heart felt condolences to the Meeks family and his wide berth of friends.
Mike was tireless in his years of support for Edmonds Center for the Arts. He had the gifts of sincere friendliness and wit. An Edmonds hero for sure. Our condolences to the Meeks family.
Mike was a lifelong friend from our college days at GU. As an accounting major, he took on the task of tracking our fledgling newspaper-auto delivery business, and as a result of his expertise, we were able to profit enough to get our own apartment off campus – an important scenario for young college kids. We roomed together, studied together, played intramural sports together & of course, he was our lead party planner -making sure everyone had a good time & paid their fair share of the food and beer tab. After college, we kept our friendship going, forming an alumni group of his close friends that led to many gatherings over the years including a few trips to Cabo & again, making sure everyone paid their fair share of the dine-out bill. Mike loved sharing his NY & Seattle Times editorials & cartoons on email — not obtrusive but often sparking interesting dialog. I too am a fan of the “Hawks” though living in Oregon, and we’d often “Monday morning quarterback” the results of the game. I’m not surprised he became Dr. CPA in Edmonds and was such an influencer in the Edmonds community. Mike will always be remembered & profoundly missed. My wife and I send our condolences to Katherine and family, and we are so sorry for your loss!