In a story about a cross-border partnership between Capitol Hill Books and a Mexican bookstore published by USA Today in 2017, Matt Wixon said “life is better when you lead with your empathy.”
According to Wixon’s colleague and friend Kyle Burk, that kind of sentiment exemplified Wixon’s approach to the even smallest daily interactions.
Wixon, 41, died in late March after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016.
Burk, Wixon and two other friends purchased Capitol Hill Books from former owner Jim Toole in 2018. The pair began working part-time at the store almost 15 years ago after moving to the District in the early 2000s.
During President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to close the U.S. border with Mexico, Burk, who works as a translator at the Mexican Embassy in D.C., came up with the idea to exchange books with Libreria a Traves el Espejo (Through the Looking Glass) in Mexico City.
The two bookstores signed a symbolic Memorandum of Understanding.
“That quote he gave kind of summed up Matt’s attitude to the world,” Burk told WTOP. “That’s just what Matt did in every interaction he had. He always found a way to find something special in somebody else, and make that person feel good about it.”
Burk described Wixon, husband to Kate and father to 2-year-old William, as a “broad-shouldered, long-bearded, big burly guy. If you saw him, you would think that he was a mover, and he was. But he was a book person from very young.”
Wixon founded Bookstore Movers, a company that employs some 90 people, through what Burk called “nothing more than a willingness to move heavy furniture and a couple of Craigslist ads,” but he read extensively and “could be found huddled up in the bedroom with his favorite novel.”
Burk said Wixon liked reading science fiction, fantasy and even dictionaries.
“He was a voracious reader. Even as he was battling cancer, you would go into his hospital room and there would be stacks and stacks of books there.”
But even more than his love for books, Burk said Wixon will be remembered as someone who “just made the world a more colorful place.”
Burk said he and his friends have an archive of the “long, poetic emails with rich imagery” for which he was known. Wixon, Burk said, would respond to even the most basic emails and text messages with florid details.
“You might have asked him a simple question, but for Matt, there were no simple questions,” Burk said. “He was an amazing guy. He’s the most erudite person I know, the funniest guy, and just amazingly compassionate. Everyone who knew him loved him.”
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
