Dr. Michael Steven Kolodziej was born on July 24, 1976, to his loving mother, Patty Jo Famiano Flanagan. A second-generation San Diegan, Mikey, as he was affectionately known, grew up in a close-knit family with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins nearby. In 1983, Patty married his stepfather, Michael Flanagan, and the family settled in Rancho Peñasquitos.

Throughout his childhood, he loved spending time with his family and friends, playing sports, and getting into mischief. He especially enjoyed his mother's Italian cooking and celebrating holidays with his family.

In high school, Mike played golf and wrestled and was active in the local youth group, where he made many lifelong friends. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 1994.

Following high school, Mike attended community college and then graduated in 1999 from UC San Diego with a B.S. in Biology. After graduation, he worked as a research assistant in a UCSD laboratory focusing on Alzheimer's research, then transitioned to teaching high school science at La Jolla High from 2001-2003, where he also coached wrestling. Mike stayed in touch with many of his former students and impacted many young lives through teaching and coaching.

Mike joyfully welcomed his children, the lights of his life, Jacob in 2002 and Leah in 2004. His life was dedicated to providing for them and spending time with them, which he did through coaching sports teams, attending their activities, helping with homework, swimming at the pool, playing video games, watching movies, and generally being silly, loving, and charismatic. Mike adored his children and found much joy in the day-to-day of being with them. Recently, Mike expressed in his online posts how proud he was that each of his children had become wonderful young people and had found a path for their lives. Jacob is pursuing a career in numismatics, and Leah is attending college, aiming for a career in pediatric orthodontics.

After successfully running his own business for many years as The Dent Doc, Mike graduated from the University of Redlands with his MBA in 2009. This achievement led him to begin his journey through many roles at Bridgepoint Education and Ashford University in learning & development and online higher education for the University of Phoenix Arizona where he has made lifelong friends moving forward. He dedicated his professional life to bringing accessible and innovative online learning to countless students, touching their lives through education and mentorship.

In 2013, he began his doctoral studies, and the program took him to Washington, D.C., University of Wisconsin, and Singapore, where he studied learning theories, design, and educational technology, and broadened his perspective on how people learn. His dissertation focused on identifying the need for and developing comprehensive computational thinking literacy at the college level. With the recent trends in AI and other emerging technologies, he was right on the mark with his insights. Mike obtained his Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies from Pepperdine University in 2017. Throughout his career, Mike impacted the lives of those he influenced, led, and worked alongside. A charismatic and natural leader, he knew how to make work enjoyable and inspired many with his openness, natural curiosity, broad knowledge, and humor. Mike was proud to be a first-generation college, master's, and doctoral graduate and took pride in guiding the education of others, with firsthand knowledge of the lasting generational impact of quality learning.

Mike enjoyed spending time with those he loved, hanging out at the beach, golfing, attending events, driving around, riding, and camping in the desert, and traveling. Always the life of the party, he enjoyed having a good time with good people and naturally made friends wherever he went. He will be remembered as a loving and dedicated son, father, brother, husband, partner, colleague, and friend. Mike constantly checked in with genuine care for those he loved through text messages, calls, and social media, and his presence in our lives will be dearly missed. We should each treasure our memories with him, filled with his wit, humor, sarcasm, and dance moves. No matter what life brought, Mike persevered with positivity and resilience, qualities he shared with those around him.

In recent years, Mike found the peace he had been searching for, which led him to his love, Kendra, as well as taking up activities such as Jiu-Jitsu, trips to the desert, concerts, conferences, and riding his motorcycle. Mike died tragically at the age of 47, doing what he loved: taking a risk and feeling free.

He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Patty and Michael Flanagan of Rancho Peñasquitos; his two children, Jacob Kolodziej (21) of Newport Beach, CA, and Leah Kolodziej (19) of Portland, Oregon; and his love and fiancée, Kendra Jauregui. Additionally, he leaves behind his half-sister, Amy Lugand, and her husband Yves, a half brother Paul Lawrence and wife April, his Uncle Steven Famino, as well as an abundance of loving cousins and extended family.