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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; The late Lew Sebia was described as &ldquo;as a best friend, excellent father and husband, and a great man.&rdquo;
				Those words came from Rob Mericle, Sebia&rsquo;s friend and business partner at Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services.
				Sebia, 60, died after crashing his motorcycle Friday Aug. 21, in Clifford Township, said Lackawanna County Coroner Timothy D. Rowland.
				&ldquo;There was no one better,&rdquo; Mericle said. &ldquo;I had the honor and privilege of growing a business with this amazing man by my side, a man who was my closest advisor and my best compass. Professionally and personally, Lew made me a better person.&rdquo;
				According to Rowland, Sebia was driving on Route 374 in Clifford Township near the intersection of Elkdale Road when he apparently struck, or swerved to avoid, a deer.
				Sebia was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center where he died shortly after arriving in the emergency department, Rowland said.
				Sebia&rsquo;s wife, Mary Jo, a passenger on the bike, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, the coroner said.
				Rowland said Sebia suffered multiple traumatic injuries and died shortly after he arrived at the hospital around 1 a.m.
				Mericle called Sebia &ldquo;the bedrock of our company&rsquo;s leadership team, devoting more than two decades to the company as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel.
				&ldquo;While they were Lew&rsquo;s official company titles, to me and everyone working with us, Lew was a leader, he was our family, our confidant, and our highly respected colleague,&rdquo; Mericle said. &ldquo;Lew was a true partner with me and possessed the best legal-negotiating and deal-making skills that I have seen throughout my entire career.&rdquo;
				Mericle said the company &ldquo;will mourn the loss of Lew in perpetuity.&rdquo; He said Sebia was loved in the office and known as &ldquo;the great storyteller&rdquo; with a laugh that could be heard five offices down the hall.
				&ldquo;Lew always took the time to ask about everyone&rsquo;s family with genuine sincerity,&rdquo; Mericle said. &ldquo;Our company family will never be the same without Lew. We will work diligently to honor his memory and his legacies of family, compassion, kindness, and hard work.&rdquo;
				Mericle said Sebia loved his family with his whole heart and he beamed talking about every family activity and gathering they had.
				&ldquo;Our thoughts and prayers have been with and will remain with Mary Jo during her recovery and with Lew&rsquo;s whole family as it copes with the loss of this amazing man,&rdquo; Mericle said. &ldquo;The entire Sebia family will forever be a part of our family.&rdquo;
				Details of services have not been announced.
				&lsquo;We always looked up to him&rsquo;
				Mayor Mike Lombardo said he first met Sebia on the sidelines during a Pittston Area football game. Lombardo said Sebia was &ldquo;a little older than me&rdquo; and &ldquo;we always looked up to him.&rdquo;
				Lombardo&rsquo;s father, Dr. Joseph Lombardo, had served as the team physician for the football team.
				&ldquo;Lew and the guys on the team were people we looked up to,&rdquo; Lombardo said. &ldquo;Lew was always friendly. He joked with us kids on the sidelines.&rdquo;
				Lombardo said Sebia grew up in Yatesville and later lived in Pittston above what is now the Tomato Bar.
				&rdquo;My thoughts go out to his wife, who is on a good path to recovery, and his children,&rdquo; Lombardo said. &ldquo;This is such a devastating loss. Lew was a friend to me and also to Northeastern Pennsylvania.&rdquo;
				Lombard said Sebia never forgot where he was from and he always stayed attached to the community.
				&ldquo;Lew had a great sense of humor,&rdquo; Lombardo said. &ldquo;As tough s he was, he was the funniest guy I know.&rdquo;
				&lsquo;One of the finest lawyers&rsquo;
				Attorney Joe Kluger said his law firm shared the same parking lot with the law firm that Sebia worked for in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
				&ldquo;We even drove the same kind of car,&rdquo; Kluger said. &ldquo;Many nights our cars were the last two left in the parking lot. We always got along &mdash; we just clicked.&rdquo;
				Kluger said there was always a high level of trust between him and Sebia, enabling them to get many deals done.
				&ldquo;And Lew always had the highest ethical approach,&rdquo; Kluger said. &ldquo;All the deals were done properly. Lew was one of the finest lawyers I have ever worked with.&rdquo;
				Kluger said Sebia had an incredible ability to draft language, analyze issues and come up with clever business/legal solutions.
				&ldquo;And he still worked as hard as he did, and that made him an exceptional lawyer,&rdquo; Kluger said. And his sense of humor, coupled with his compassion for family, made me call him a friend. Our community has lost one of the very best.&rdquo;
				&lsquo;An influential change agent&rsquo;
				Wico Van Genderen, President,/Chief Executive Officer at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, said he was &ldquo;profoundly saddened&rdquo; at the passing of Sebia.
				&ldquo;His impact on me, the Chamber and community is immeasurable,: Van Genderen said. &ldquo;Lew was a great advocate and longtime board director of the Chamber of Business and Industry, Growth Partnership, Development Corporation and a host of other economic organizations. He was instrumental in helping us in our real estate disposition, financial well-being, and business growth and attraction initiatives.&rdquo;
				Van Genderen added, &ldquo;For our economic community, he will be remembered as an influential change agent in the workforce, economic development and business revitalization in the Valley.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;For me, Lew was more than a business peer and colleague. He was family. I will truly miss his brilliant mind, dedication to his community and his friendship.&rdquo;
				At Mericle
				According to the company&rsquo;s website, Sebia was responsible for reviewing and preparing legal documentation related to all aspects of Mericle&rsquo;s real estate business, including land acquisitions, development, construction, finance, property management, leasing, and dispositions.
				Prior to joining Mericle in 1997, Sebia was a partner at Rosenn, Jenkins and Greenwald, L.L.P. of Wilkes-Barre, where his practice concentrated on areas of commercial real estate transactions and corporate and commercial law.
				Sebia had also been admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, where he worked as an attorney for the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Field, and as the Director of Leasing and General Counsel for the John G. Shooshan Company, a commercial real estate developer.
				Sebia was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
				He received a bachelor&rsquo;s degree from the University of Scranton, a master&rsquo;s degree from Syracuse University Maxwell School and his law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.

Lew Sebia remembered: ‘There was no one better’