All that's left to do is smile, smile, smile....

Matthew P Hardy, 1957-2007

He's gone. Snuffed out in the prime of his life. My dear friend and colleague Matthew P Hardy. Matt died several hours after having completed the NYC marathon. He'd run 11 out of the last 12 NYC marathons and this event was the culmination of his running year. I'd hoped to lure him to Chicago to run the marathon with me here, and he flirted with the idea, but he was dedicated to his annual run in the Big Apple. The ironic tome from the good old Grateful Dead comes to mind with this loss. He's gone. Finis. The finality and completeness of death is never easy to accept. My first thought was about me not running any more marathons. One in a million chance, eh? Wouldn't that just be a terribly selfish thing of me to do, to indulge my passion for running marathons even as a crippled old geezer now-- and cost my family their husband and father? Whose to say Matt wouldn't have been felled by a coronary when he went up the stairs from the subway? There is no way to know. Words are inadequate to describe the loss the world has suffered with the death of Matt. He was kind, gentle, refined, sophisticated and so urbane. He loved living in upper east side and had worked at the Population Council at Rockefeller University since 1991. We have come up through the ranks together, starting our independent careers at about the same time. He was the editor of both volumes of The Leydig Cell in which I contributed a chapter. It was a joy working with him. He was one of the world experts on Leydig cells. There just aren't very many of us around, and now the preeminent one has gone onto the other shore. I am going to miss you Matt. Even though our communications were sporadic, we had an active collaboration and his vision was the guiding light for many of the projects we proposed. A 50 year old man in the prime of his life and at the peak of his career should not be taken from us. We were going to grow old and publish many books and papers together. I promise to dedicate my next publication to Matt, for what ever that's worth. My heart goes out to Diane, his closest friends and students, and all of us who knew him and were touched by his magnificence. His obit.