Paul Schachter

Paul supervised my dissertation research, which I completed in 1972, and following that we were colleagues after I was hired in 1975. I followed him as Department Chair starting in 1980. He was always wise and insightful, yet quiet and concise. One always had the feeling that he was at peace with himself, a quality that many of us would like to share.

When I was hired as a young assistant professor at UCLA, Paul was chair of the department. I was in Paris when he called me with an offer of the position. I had just found out I was pregnant with our first daughter, and told him, somewhat embarrassed, that I wanted to delay my appointment. Paul called back about 15 minutes later: he has spoken to the dean, and arranged a wonderful leave policy, which allowed me to move to LA in the best possible circumstances. This was of course typical of...