At William Rubin's burial ceremony a couple of months ago his family and friends reminisced and shared anecdotes about him. Sometimes Bill got cranky and abrasive, especially in later years as his health failed. He often grew impatient with those who couldn't keep up with him. But he had a sharp sense of humor, and he truly cared about people. After he retired from a career as a science journal editor he served for several years with my wife on the County Library Board, where he helped Paulette in the fight for better libraries for all. The best description of Bill at the interment was given by his son, who in his eulogy observed:

(and for the opposite metaphor in the context of neutron star physics see SoftOutsideCrunchyCenter (1 May 2000), ...)

TopicLife - TopicHumor - TopicPersonalHistory - 2007-07-26

(correlates: JonathanSturm, GenderBenders, Peter Neumann, ...)