My friend and gifted mathematical physicist David McAnally died suddenly last week. I attended David’s funeral today. It’s hard to believe that he’s gone. It hadn’t ever crossed my mind that this shy, gentle man, who loved mathematics and physics would pass on so soon. David was 44.

For the last couple of months David had been teaching me a crash course on general relativity. He’d gone through the material but decided to give me one more lecture - scheduled for last Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, he passed away unexpectedly that morning.

I sat in that empty lecture room last week, reminiscing and trying to get my head around this awful thing.