I first met Fred in 1995 when I started working in Tucson in a small optics firm making laser imaging equipment. From the first, Fred was a very sociable guy, an attribute I found would govern our 15 year friendship and illustrate his influential impact in the world of optics. I had never met anyone that had that much influence in the optics world before. He took me to dinner on my first day and we talked shop for an hour and I was amazed at all the people he knew, and knowledge of the industry he possessed. Over time I learned about his many honors and positions held, meetings and conferences he helped establish, people he put together that later formed companies, and of course, his love of soccer. I also found he and I shared a love for tennis and spent many hours on the phone talking about the players and their personalities and prospects. I will never watch the majors on tv without thinking of our friendship and enjoyable times discussing the outcomes. To know Fred, in a way, is to know many of the world’s experts in optics because they were his friends and colleagues. I experienced this for a fact when I attended an Optical Society conference in Long Beach years ago with him and as we walked around, we could hardly go 20 paces before we would be stopped by someone that knew him to say hello, and catch up on everything. I was introduced to more scientists, engineers, and corporate leaders in that one day than any other time. Fred had helped most of them at one time or another. He was very generous with his knowledge and influence and never asked for anything in return. But above all, he considered his family the most important. I recall a story he related to me where at one point he would not miss one of his children’s events and he put a lot at risk professionally for that, but it was never a question in his mind. One of the amazing things about Fred was his ability to pick up languages. I know he spoke several at a conversational level. His type of responsibilities provided opportunities for travel and I was amazed at the coincidences he had at meeting people on the airplane or even in elevators. He would tell me how he met so and so on this trip or that elevator….. just by striking up a conversation. Again, his sociable nature creating opportunities, friends, and contacts. He gave me contacts in our field of optics that covered the gamut from lasers, to ophthalmology, to camera lens design, and opto-mechanical engineering. Any kind of problem… he seemed to know someone who was an expert in it. He was a teacher, author, engineer, consultant, conference organizer, executive, entrepreneur, and family man. He received many honors in the optics world and earned enough letters and titles to cover an entire business card. I enjoyed our times together and will miss our conversations. Christine, Mark, Robert, and Heather, we all share your loss.