Daniel Jonas Aronie died at 1:24 a.m. on Jan. 29 on the full moon, the brightest of the year. Dan contracted diabetes when he was nine months old and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 22. He left Bard College after two years and graduated from motorcycle mechanic school. He worked for Hartford Harley until he could no longer hold tools in his tremoring hands. He came to the Vineyard, his childhood summer home, to live out the rest of his journey in Vineyard Haven in his own house where he was cared for by a series of generous caregivers who loved and attended him.

He is survived by his mother, Nancy Slonim Aronie, his father, Joel Aronie and his brother, Joshua; his grandmother, Asna Aronie; his aunt, Frances Curtis Barnhart; his uncles Alan Martin, Steven Aronie and Ron Curtis; his beloved cousins; his close girlfriend Sarah Elizabeth Hull; his dear friend Gerald Blake Storrow and his loving caregivers Alison Bartlett and Michael Ferrone.

The Aronies wish to thank and honor the healers: Fae Konjie Gibbs, Niki Patton, Jackie Clason, Sarah Hull, Sidora Zeigler, Eilene Murphy, Jeanie Hay Sternbach, Betsy Shands, Walter Burke, Mike Perry, Michael Hayden, Michael Ferrone, Erica Bartlett, Jewels Blake, Tracy Urban and Kim Derby; the friends: Bill Altman, Joyce Sayre, Amos Blinder, P.J. Economou, Judy Hannan, Gerry and Margaret Storrow, Lorie and Richard Hamermesh, Harold and Erica Ramis, Jude Kaufman, Steven and Ben and Alex Kemper, Peter and Melinda Farelley, Peter and Martha Halperin, Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Barry Stein, Bill Coleman, Wendy Weldon, David Brown, Liz Witham and Ken Wentworth, Kate Taylor, Bonnie Menton, Rebekah Blu, Patrie Grace, Shri Hitchcock, Toni and Richard Cohen, M.J. Bruder Munafo, Martha Magee, Merissa Gerson and Brian Martin, Richard Skidmore and Joan Lelacheur; Doctors Yukevich and Stunkel, and nurses Cheryl, Sandy and Audrey. The family also sends out special thanks to the staff doctors and nurses at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital who cared for and loved Dan and let us bring in our own food, do our own tests, apply our own ointments, give our own supplements, sing our own songs and hang our own Christmas lights, even in July. Thank you forever.

There will be a celebration of Dan’s life in the spring on Menemsha Beach. Donations can be made to You’ve Got A Friend Foundation, P.O. Box 1317, West Tisbury, MA 02575.