Ken Pruitt

Herb called me this morning to tell me that Ken had died last Friday, after a long illness. He was 75.

I owed Ken a lot, in two ways. First, he took me under his wing when I was a very young pup. He was my only mentor other than Herb. They were the only ones to ever talk to me about what it means to be a professor, and how one should progress up the ladder. And they were also the only two real scientists in the puny little Biomath Department. Second -- and I learned this only years later -- I owed my tenure to Ken and Charlie Bugg.

When I came up for tenure during that fateful sixth up-or-out year, I got turned down. Jane Hazelrig, who was a couple of years my junior, also got turned down. By chance, I got to see her rejection letter from the dean; it was identical to mine, except mine had one paragraph that hers didn't, describing the appeal process. Today I realize that perhaps that extra paragraph may have appeared in every letter to someone in their final chance at tenure (Jane still had another chance coming). But, at the time, I interpreted it to mean that Jim Pittman was encouraging me to file an appeal. I talked to Malcolm Turner, my chair, about it, and he supported the appeal. To my delight and surprise, I got promoted.

(I hadn't expected it and didn't really think I deserved it, because I was so slow getting started, scientifically. In thinking about what I would do if I got booted, I figured I'd move to Idaho and pump gas. After years of focusing on a career, I thought perhaps I'd try focusing on recreations instead, which meant I should move somewhere close to the mountains.)

When Charlie Bugg retired in the mid-90's, Herb took me aside and said that he guessed it was finally OK to reveal something confidential: that Charlie and Ken had both been on the SoM Tenure Committee when I came up, and they both fought for me. Although the Committee voted me down, their arguments were sufficiently strong in my favor that Jim Pittman decided to promote me on appeal.

In retrospect, I think Ken, Charlie and Jim made a good decision for all concerned.

Thanks, Ken. I'll miss you...