It's easy to say that a parent had the greatest influence on your life, taught you to walk, talk, drink and among many other things, hopefully, good and evil. A good parent is there for you for much of your life, ready to lend a hand or offer advice (unless it's your mother-in-law) when needed, but the characteristic that has influenced my life the most has been the integrity that my father showed with me and the people lucky enough to have met him. My father was born to a farmer in New Jersey a few years after the depression, he learned the lessons that only hard work can teach from a young age. Working on a farm is not easy, the days are long, the jobs are extremely physical and dirty and if you are a child all this happens every morning before you even go to school. I think this is where my father learned the lessons that made him the man I came to admire so much. He is a fair man who has always put the needs of his family before his own. He wasn't one for long-winded lectures, rather he led and taught by example. There was nothing that would hurt me more than my father saying he was dead...