When you are thinking of a person you know, the first thing that pops into your head is usually one of his main features. With Gal Navon it was his huge smile. A smile is not only a facial expression, it is the person's energy, it is their radiance, it can change the entire atmosphere of a room. Gal had a really contagious smile on his face, at all times. You can not picture him without. When I intreviewed Gal for the job I remember that the first thing I wrote on his scorecard is "Really amazingly positive guy", the second thing was "and a well driven engineer". Gal had the best can-do attitude I've seen in a while, and he made his entire surroundings adopt it. He was kind, smart, a great team leader who lead by example, the type of colleagues you love to entaract with. He was smart, very thorough, always tried to plan ahaed, communicative, and he knew how to channel his endless amount of energy to try and make everything better.
In the aftermath of the Oct 7 events, I came to the office one day and walked passed his desk. I wanted to do the regular "Hi Gal" and hear him through a funny remark in order to make me smile, and was heartbroken to think that it is just not going to happen anymore.
What an amazing thing it is to be remmembered as a huge walking talking smile. What a great job you did as a human being. You had a tragecly short life, but boy did you leave an impact. I miss him, I guess we will always will. RIP Gal Navon
Unlike tears that are triggered easily since we've heard the news, I've been struggling to find the words. the right words to say to my colleagues that are grieving, or to friends asking me if we we're close. The only thing that runs trough my head is our conversations. is your smile. is how you were always kind. you we're always smiling and shining. Lighting up the room. it's like you had an halo on comfort, of security, that you were carrying everywhere with you. I don't have the words but I do have a mantra that you left within me, just by the way you made everyone feel, I hear it in every story and read it in every paragraph written about you. And this "Gal Navon" mantra, that will now live in me, is to be kind, to be welcoming. To spread light, even in times of anger and darkness. It will take a lot of us trying to be better in that way for it to accumulate even remotely to the light you brought.
Rest in peace Gal. You're missed already.
You cannot recruit Gal anymore.
He was the employee you were looking for. He was talented and thorough in everything he did.
Passionate and a team player: the person who walks to his desk and makes anyone around him look up from their screens and smile. Starting each day with the happiest and most energetic 'good morning,' as if it's the first exciting day of a new startup every day. Good morning, Zohar. Good morning, Ori. Good morning, Sveta...! It's not just task updates; it's team and personal care, and uplifting. For each update, he replies, "Awesome," "Super," "Amazing," even if he pushed, "Let's keep up the pace" or "Let's make sure we finish it up today." His top goal (I think) was to ensure the team feels valuable, doing meaningful things. He kept looking for more ways to show our progress and give each developer the opportunity to present their work.
Project Management: Gal would take on any task, starting by understanding the logic and reasoning himself, making sure all relevant team members have a broad understanding of it, and then dividing it into milestones and smaller tasks. He made sure that the progress would be visible so that each developer could see their contribution and respond with, "Excellent," "Amazing," "Great!" We used to laugh about you waking up every 3 hours at and satying home just to take care of your cat's eye. You took care of the drops timing like you took care of everything and everyone.
Fluent in many languages: Obviously Hebrew,English and code, but also the language of people and souls – sensitive to everyone around him, reading their eyesand the room, communicating through all channels. Ensuring that people took the time they needed for vacations, family, and health.
Time management: All meetings were scheduled in advance, managed to be focused and impactful.
We had a problem with our weekly meetings; we needed more time than scheduled, and we were both always rushing between meetings. We would smile at each other, finishing "one more thing" before our delayed meeting, and then, most of the time, we'd continue our meeting the next day.
I could go on and on, but I need to leave now for Gal's funeral. No more smiles or coffee, no more happy 'good morning' each day, no more watching you play ping pong just for fun while keeping everything on track.
Milestones are just stones now, and my heart is broken.
Say something good to your colleagues or loved ones today, let them see that you see them, and appreciate their achievements. Try to open with a happy 'Good morning,' thinking of Gal. I'm not sure I can do that anytime soon, but I'll keep trying.
I love you, Gal. You will be so missed.
Gal was my team leader at Melio. He was an exceptional manager, surprisingly young, but with the experience of someone a decade above his actual age. He brought joy and happiness to the team every day. One of his routines was to bless every team member with a cheerful good morning blessing in the daily meetings. It was clear that he took the responsibility to bring out the best in every teammate, and show it to everyone. He always told us to communicate in public channels about our work’s output, letting everyone know what we’ve achieved. That made us feel impactful.
Gal was kind, modest, brilliant, and hilarious. We could have spoken nonsense for a while and then in one moment to focus and talk business. He had a natural gift of looking at people’s eyes, reading their feelings, and being mindful of their needs. He always knew to give the right advice, his tips always worked, and he taught me how to remove my blockers and overcome my challenges.
Since October 7th, Gal has always been on my mind. I wish we could have had many more moments together.
Gal was my direct manager, It was always funny with him, every time he returned to his table I knew he would say something and we would laugh. Every meeting we had, I always knew we would laugh at something that might happen. He had a high emotional intelligence and the level of care for the people around him was at the top, it gave a lot of strength with positive energies, and the feeling of "there is someone to trust" is in the space of the room. Every decision he made was made seriously and calmly thinking about the smallest details, it was inspiring every time he broke down a huge problem by writing a few lines in his notebook.
Gal was a team leader at Melio. As Gal's direct manager, I can confidently say that he was not only a colleague but also a true friend to everyone. He was beacon of happiness and positivity, and his intelligence was exceptional. His ability to give accurate feedback was unparalleled, and he had a talent for bringing out the best in everyone.
During onboarding, I drew an ERD on a whiteboard. Based on my past experience, I knew I would need to redraw it as the model is complex for new joiners. Gal wrote things in his notebook and nodded his head. After two days, he sent me a Miro board that perfectly explained our entity model.
Gal, in Hebrew, meaning 'wave', as waves carry things away and bring new treasures to shore. It's a cycle of loss and discovery that reminds me of Gal, whose life was taken too soon. Each wave that retreats seems to take a piece of the grief with it, while every new wave brings a memory of joy.
The irony is that the person who would be best suited to write this memorial is Sefi Genis, Gal's closest friend, who died with him in the October 7th massacre. They died heroes together, fighting off terrorists with their bare hands to save the people that were hiding in the bunker with them. This just demonstrates how Gal was all kindness, and put everyone before himself. He lived as a mensch, and died a hero on October 7th. The #tlvcommunity will remember him forever.