I met Bob my first semester of college, and we soon became friends. I can attest that he really did have an office since I remember receiving lectures about international finance there. But of course most of the time we spent together took place at his usual haunt: the library cafe. It never mattered to him that I wasn’t actually his student – and in fact, I learned more from him during those informal conversations than I did in some of my classes. (I did eventually take a course with him, my last semester of college, and I think about the material he taught us almost on a daily basis.)

The combination of Bob’s brilliance, vast knowledge, outrageous wit, and patience enabled him to make the most complicated concepts extremely accessible. But more importantly, Bob always made clear the political and social stakes of the ideas we discussed. Bob taught theory, but he taught it in a way that made it impossible for you to avoid thinking about the on-the-ground consequences of economic policies, the impacts on people and communities.

In our last email exchange we agreed to grab pizza the next time Bob came through New Haven. I’m sorry we never got to, and that I didn’t spend more time with him when I could. Bob embodied what makes Middlebury great – that professors and students aren’t afraid to love each other. His passing is a tremendous loss for both his field and our community.