I heard from my brother that Mike passed last November. Apparently he fell at home and died in the hospital.
If anyone was more responsible for the "Motown Sound" it had to be Mike. The guy was a total electronic genius that could lose me in one of his long, but incredibly interesting, dissertations on one piece of gear or another We were good friends during my days at Motown and kept in occasional touch through the following years. Ironically, he was on my mind the last few months and was planning on calling him sometime soon. Rest in peace Mike, I'll always smile whenever you cross my mind.