Posted by James D Murff on April 11, 2015:

I was terribly saddened on learning of Gary's death. Those of us on the 1963 class forum had many interactions with Gary and we all learned from his contributions. Gary was a man of principle and was always ready to stand up for what he believed --- it isn't easy to be a liberal on our class forum but he was undaunted. No matter whether I agreed with him or not (and I probably agreed with him more than most) he always made me think. We had many off line exchanges on different topics and I will always remember his wise counsel. I will miss the thoughtful comments of this very brilliant man. His death, on the day he posted his last forum comment, is a real shock. An incident from cadet days. Yearling year I was in Gary's advanced calculus section (several seats removed from him of course (he was the section marcher). Our prof gave us a single problem for homework. We would be assigned the problem the next day when we took boards and it would count as our class grade. It was sufficiently challenging that we were allowed to use any references including any classmates. I stayed up half the night but never cracked it. In a panic I went to Gary's room (we were in different companies) after breakfast (we had been assigned the same problem and I was sure he had figured it out- which he had) and he was able (and graciously willing) to explain it to me well enough on the way to class that at least I didn't have a blank board. I always had a soft spot for him after that. My heart goes out to Gary's family. Rest in peace Gary. Well done my friend. Sincerely, Don

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