Hunter and I first met 65 years ago as freshmen at Yale. We went on to become room-mates and fast friends over the next four years. We discussed our courses as well as the meaning of life long into the night, played guitar and sang folk songs, played bridge and also played some tennis. One long discussion we had that stands out in my memory involved a philosophy paper I was writing that compared and contrasted the epistemology of Rene Descartes and David Hume. Hunter played Hume and I was Descartes. We discussed/debated furiously over the course of many days Descartes vs Hume. Hunter's insights and arguments were incredibly thoughtful and stimulating! As a result that paper received my highest grade of anything I did in my entire 4 years at Yale! Hunter...thank you one more time!
Another powerful memory involves the summer after our sophomore year when, at Hunter's kind invitation, I got to spend a month with him and his parents at their home in Seneca Maryland. We did everything together that summer! We worked as laborers in construction, singing Broadway tunes (badly) as we worked, went canoeing on the Potomac River, once even with dates, and, of course, played lots of tennis. What a time it was! He was like the brother I never had in my own family. Hunter that summer with you was incredible! My warm memories of our adventures will stay with me as long as I live.
One final memory I would like to share involves my trip to visit Hunter at his home in Annapolis, MD, in July of 2017. We both had become interested in observing the night sky with our telescopes...Hunter in Annapolis and me in Berkeley, CA. We specialized in "splitting" close double stars. For about 15 years we sent each other detailed notes of our observing sessions, often followed by lengthy phone calls discussing specific doubles, how to find them, what colors we observed and, of course, our latest astronomy purchases. Somewhere in the midst of our observing years, we decided that we had to, at least once, do some star gazing side by side. So I hopped on a plane with my smallish maksutov scope and set up in Hunter's backyard with Hunter using his favorite scope, his very long 101 mm refractor, a truly beautiful scope. (see picture) Hunter, that week of sharing the night sky with you was truly fabulous!
But now, with a very sad heart, I say goodbye, dear friend. You will always be with me in spirit.
