I had a bad feeling about it: My former professor, the one I wrote to you about that was battling stage IV cancer, stopped making blog entries shortly after having written this post entitled “New Hope in San Francisco” back in October:
Our meeting with Dr. Alan Venook at UCSF on October 15th was a success: He accepted me in the experimental chemo protocol — Pascale and I were elated! It may not be possible for you to imagine how much this UCSF opportunity raised our spirits, after a month during which I was very sick, I had no chemo treatments, and we really didn’t know if I‚Äôd ever get another drop of chemo, because conventional therapies are no longer effective.
I will be the tenth patient in Dr. Venook’s study. Good news so far: the other nine patients in the nine months the study has been in progress have not suffered much with side effects.
I wrote to him two weeks back, hoping to hear that he was simply taking a break. Resting. I didn’t hear back.
What a mind he had! Even suffering from the after-effects of chemo and pain killers he could make us all stop and stare. Somehow I had tricked him into thinking that I was a good student, that I had a talent for the ops/analysis gig that was his forte. He wrote me once privately that he couldn’t wait to see what life held for me after the Navy. When I finally met him last Spring in Vancouver, I almost shied away – I didn’t want him to see through me, realize that I would be a disappointment to him. Realize that I was merely ordinary.
He was a great teacher, the kind of professor who made you want to be the person he thought you could be. He was brilliant and funny and loved his family. He loved life, he was a fighter – he wouldn’t lie down. Wouldn’t quit. I’ve never known a man for so short at time that I respected so much.
He’s gone:
To: Correspondents of Rick Rosenthal
Distinguished Professor Richard E. Rosenthal died at approximately 1 pm, Thursday, 3 January 2008 at the Hospice of the Central Coast, Monterey, CA, after a courageous bout with cancer. He was with family and friends at the end. A private memorial service is planned for Sunday, 6 January. Prof. Rosenthal was born in 1950 in Nassau County, NY. He graduated from John Hopkins University in Mathematics in 1972 and from Georgia Institute of Technology in Operations Research (OR) in 1975. From 1975 to 1983 he was an assistant and associate professor of Management Science at the University of Tennessee. In 1984 he came the OR Department at NPS as a National Academy of Sciences Senior Research Fellow. He stayed at NPS as an associate, full, and distinguished professor. He was Operations Research department chairman during 1997-2000. He has authored or co-authored over 20 professional papers in the OR literature. His numerous awards include the International Federation of Operations Research Societies Distinguished Lectureship, the Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Prize for Teaching OR/MS Practice. The Military Operations Research Society has recently established the Rosenthal Student Military Modeling Award to recognize outstanding student military operations research. A public memorial service will be scheduled at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Rick has requested the following:
“In lieu of flowers, please:
1- Take time off from your responsibilities to enjoy a great meal with good friends and family who you do not see often enough,
2- Give some time or money to a charity that brings some joy to those who need it or contributes to advances in education, science, the arts or the environment.”The Rosenthal mailing address is 11 Encina Avenue, Monterey, CA 93940.
James Eagle
Chairman, Department of Operations Research
Naval Postgraduate School
What a loss.
Sorry for your loss, Capt.
Truly sorry to hear that, Lex.
My deepest sympathies on your’s and the Navy’s loss.
My condolences, Sir.
I’m sorry, Lex.
He sounds like quite the man.
So sorry, Lex.
Sorry for the loss Lex. I noticed he supervised a close friend of mines thesis, I’ll pass the word to him back here.
b2
Captain,
My condolonces to his fanily and to those whose lives he has touched. I am not a christian, but for those who are, I would offer that you change your tears of sadness for those of joy for he has crossed over and now resides with God. He rests in that great realm from whose bourne no traveler ever returns.
He has looked, finally, upon the face of god and felt His embrace and love.
We weep for his family, who will no longer share his life. We weep for ourselves, for we no longer will have him as a friend, a mentor, a member of our circle.
And yet, you shall see him once more, in that timeless land where age and sickness hold no sway, where there is but eternal joy amongst those we hold so close.
You are the lessor because he has gone, but it is he who will live on as long as you remember him, as long as you give thanks for knowing him.
Life is always a series of gains and losses. We gain love, and lose those we love. We gain our children, and then lose them to themselves and their own lives. It is as it should be.
I never met the man, but for him to have such an effect upon you is to mean that he must have been more than special. For that, I am thankful for his life.
To absent shipmates and comrades all!
Fair winds and following seas.
I never met the man, but for him to have such an effect upon you is to mean that he must have been more than special. For that, I am thankful for his life.
My thoughts, exactly.
So sorry for your loss. His will obviously live on in those he touched…
We shall not miss him, for is not the greatest feat of immortality the mention of a name and the response, “I’ve read his works?”
His body may no longer be of this world, but his thoughts are published and thus he lives on.
I take solace in that.
Unfortunately, my eternal contributions to society are all probably going to be smart-assed quotes at the posterior end of a Google search, but that beats no mention on Google at all.
– Max
– Max
My condolences on your loss. Should you go to the funeral, stop for a good bite to eat and say a silent prayer where you can say those loving things you mentioned about him here. A good man’s last wishes should be respected.
May God’s love carry you through this difficult time.
Saw and greeted the professor many times on the second deck of Glasgow Hall at NPS. Never spoke with him at length, but others who worked with him on their theses were as glowing as the Cap’n.
Professor, you will be missed.
Where would we all be without great people like this?
That’s the coolest “In lieu of flowers…” request I’ve seen. He sounds like a man who understood life, as well as his chosen occupation in it.
My condolences, Lex.
Captain
Didn’t read this post until this AM. Very sorry about your loss.
Prof. Rosenthal’s knowledge does live on — in you and his students.
I’m headed down to NPS this morning in this gale. King Hall. Will stop by Glasgow.
V/r
-SJBill
Those who teach always leave something behind. Thinking of you in your loss.
As long as there are people like y0u Lex, and his other students, who remember him and share his essence with others – he will be remembered.
It’s cold comfort when you are sorting thru a loss of this kind, but it’s there, waiting for you. The comfort of memories. As Rev. Peter Gomes, Chaplain at Harvard, said at a 9/11 ceremony in 2006:
I want to post the obit you have here on your Web site onto the NPS Intranet but I need to double-check a couple of things before I send to my editor. Can you e-mail me soon with your full name. this site only shows you as Lex. Much appreciated. I was also a friend of Rick’s and will miss his kindness and humanity.
No more may he suffer.
God rest his soul.
I can empathize with you.
My Mom passed from cancer in September, 64 years young.