Zum Gedenken an einen weltweit namhaften Kampfkünstler | großartigen Mentor | besonde

Firstly, to the Latosa family – my sincere and utmost condolences to your loss. You lost a great husband, father, grandpa. The way he taught was always corroborated by citing: “imagine you have to protect your family against someone”. This showed his mindset of protection, sheltering and harbouring of his closest. But he also offered this mindset to other people and his students - of course, on a non-kinship level because for him it was all about learning and the respective opportunities.

I know GM Rene for over 30 years. First it was a yearly encounter when he came over to Europe once a year for his seminar tour after he settled back to the US. Then in 2001 he left the former European partnership and I had not seen him for almost 3-4 years until I made one of my regular trips to a friend in the Bay area who lived and worked there that I decided to reconnect. We met with his wife in Sonoma for lunch and it was pleasant as always – as if we had never lost contact. I also had a lot of questions for him that were in the air but never addressed.

As I came back home from that trip and his former representative for Europe was eager(st) to meet me to learn what I had talked about with GM Rene. His former representative was being sent as he and his partner were concerned GM Rene would gain hold. Almost a week later there was a big cut off from the former partnership that GM Rene had left before because the former partners were afraid of this constellation (and other reasons). Immediately I send a note to GM Rene explaining what happened and if he would accept me as a private student. He replied saying that as explained during our lunch meeting never having any restrictions and that learning opportunities should be open. This is how our intensive martial arts relationship restarted on the next level.

Six months later I started going to the US regularly for the sole purpose of getting his tutoring. After one year when sitting in the little part at the end of Van ness Ave I asked him if he liked coming to Europe to conduct an open seminar. He replied positively and this is how it brought him back to Europe.
The first time he arrived he gave my private lessons in an adjacent park to the hotel. It was drizzling – but he did not care as he always enjoyed working out in the open. During this occasion he mentioned something that I took on and manifested in myself: “I always had the objective of being highly professional in the job as well as in the martial arts”. He truly achieved that goal already decades ago.

For the following 16 years he came to Europe twice a year for his tours and each time stayed a week at my club to tutor his private students which I got to know as well through this hub, and which established also new friendships. In between I went to the US to intensify my path. His creed:” it’s all about discovery” had taken a stuck on me already and I realized 10-12 years later that the things he brought to me directly the first time we met in the little park at Van Ness Ave. came now to fruition.

We talked about the concepts he formulated, and I always tried to corroborate them by even going more simplified scientific – which he enjoyed, because for him there are two equal sides – mental and physical. When I had formulated and developed the medicine ball approach for explaining the core facts for self-defence and presented it to him, he commented I should take this to TED talks as he instantly deemed that approach as generic idea for learning opportunities. He even tried to organize this for me but stepped away as these formats became too political and ideological.

When I published my second book – this time on the sole topic of Escrima – he was very thrilled to see the book – although he could not read it, But I explained him the outline and he instantly understood.

When the fires in Sonoma hit the area, he arrived on a Monday morning and was scheduled already for the first lessons on Tuesday. I picked him up from the airport and brought him to the hotel for rest. I had a class this evening, so he had time for himself. After class I had some gut feeling and sent him a text asking if everything was alright with him. He replied instantly and wrote that he had to fly back the next morning as the fires were already approaching his home and his wife was given 4 hours to pack up what is essential. So, he flew back the next morning, and everyone knows what he met on his return. Taking a big hit like this takes a great and the strongest mind – and the support of his family that took him and his wife in. The following years he spent seeing the reconstruction of his home finalize only this this year. We had a video call recently, and he was waiting for the permit to move back in again - only to having a short time enjoying the new and rebuilt home which he put so much detail into.

His emotional but intuitively right on the spot comments on worldly or domestic affairs showed compassion. His work in the most different areas (military, working for the mayor of San Francisco and in its projects and elsewhere), his travels abroad signed a man and his mind, that was a rebel in his own ways – mostly against unfair practices and open opportunities for all. That was also – as far as I understood - his upbringing as a Filipino in the US where immigrants had to work a double extra mile to prove worthy to the country.

Through our endless conversations and exchanges he transferred a lot of his mindset - which is priceless for me. My own grandfather always said: “it is not about material things that matter – but what you have in your mind and your mindset.” In this way he was always proudly talking about his father and the way of thinking his father instilled in him.

GM Rene told me a story only a couple of years ago – but never made this public: when he was one of the instructors in Stockton who introduced Dan Inosanto to the arts, he asked Dan about Bruce Lee and his JKD and if he could go to see Bruce Lee with him once. After working out on the pads and mitts Dan said: “actually you do not need to come along…you’ve already got all it needs”. This is how GM Rene rolled – never bragging, never showing off. Only showing virtue(s) that made him a positively touching human cross walker through all boundaries – be it martial arts or elsewhere. You will not be forgotten – the lantern keeps shining on. I will be a part of this light…