I bring some sad news for the AESS community: On August 14th at about 2:30AM we lost our friend, Bob Lynch.

For those who don’t know, Bob was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. Bob’s positive attitude, his enthusiasm, his good humor and optimism: these were how he was a great researcher, mentor, teacher and coach. And these were also how he approached his disease; he let all of us believe that each piece of news about his health was a positive one. So even for those of us who did know of Bob’s battle with that horrible disease, his passing was a true shock. I admire him ever more as I learn more about his fight.

Bob was a mighty contributor to our Fusion society: session chair, ISIF Fusion 2009 General Co-Chair (Seattle, with Chee-Yee Chong), ISIF Webmaster, ISIF VP of Communications, ISIF Board Member, Managing Editor of ISIF’s JAIF. Bob played a key role in ISIF’s flourishing. For example: Bob single-handedly pushed – and pushed hard enough – with Elsevier to get JAIF “indexed” on Scopus, meaning that JAIF now is recognized in the academic tenure process. JAIF is growing, and Bob is part of the reason that is happening.
 
Bob loved to contribute. He loved to teach. He was delighted to encourage students and junior co-workers – and the athletic teams he coached. 

He leaves behind his wife Cheryl and two sons Bobby Jr. and Ryan. And he leaves behind many of us who miss him very much.