Tribute

My last encounter with my colleague, David Bederman, was typical. As he slowly made his way to his office only a week before cancer bore him away from us, I departed my office heading belatedly for class. David said, "Have a good class, Charlie," and I was speechless. All the things I might have said were cut off by my thoughts of his obviously deteriorating condition.

It was a simple sentence, one we say to each other many times. But from David at that moment, it was a touching one, words of encouragement from a man in great pain who was shortly to teach his last class.