Neil D. Isaacs

Prof. Isaacs was among the very best instructors I had at the University of Maryland as a student. I graduated in 1988 and, all these many years later, I still think about the class I had with him and what I learned in it. Condolences to his family.

In the Fall of 1975 I was a returning student, changing careers, taking a class with Neil Isaac´s, playing catchup with younger students who had been English majors all along.

At the end of the semester Professor Isaac´s told me, "I´m giving you an A because I think you´re an A student and because I know you´re taking my class in the spring when I´ll be able to correct myself if I´m making a mistake."

It was a kind and generous gesture that has defined his person for me ever since. The following semester he made sure I had multiple opportunities to earn my A.

In 1982 he chaired my dissertation defense. I´m sorry I did not stay in touch after that, but I have often thought of him and been thankful to have known him.

Being honest...I´m surprised, but honored that he put up with me for 46 years-first as student, and as playfully argumentative, thoughtful, friends. In many ways, I came to think of our phone calls and our emails as my way of taking him and Ellen along on my misadventures in the places I lived-which I owed him. In many ways, I wouldn´t have ended up who I am and what I´ve done if he wasn´t who he was, and what he meant to me. I´ve been better because of meeting him, becoming someone that he trusted...become the friend of someone you admire-even loved as a father figure and confidant-is as fulfilling as anything in life. I´ll miss him-but I will forever hear his counsel, his logic...and his humor.