Bob Boynton: A Tribute to a Visionary Mentor

1. Dear Bob:  I wanted to let you know that, despite your admonitions to the contrary, I still cite you as the best example I've seen of how the person at the top of the totem pole should lead.   Know that I am thinking of you.   -Al Eisner

2. Aside from all his accomplishments both in and outside the ballpark, I knew him as an exceptionally kind and thoughtful man who cared deeply about his family, friends and colleagues. His contributions to vision research can not be gauged by the normal scales that are used for such measurements. -Mike Oberdorfer

3. I could not emulate his singular important success as a Lorrin graduate student: Bob was famous for having written his Ph.D thesis  months ahead of the dreaded deadline.  -Ulker Tulunay Keesey

4. he really epitomized a scholar and a gentleman for me -Dennis Levi

5. You have put an indelible mark on science and on a generation of scientists, about theory, experimental rigor and how to conduct ourselves as intense but supportive colleagues. -Steve Shevell

6. I had a lot of respect for your father. He had a terrifically high ratio of accomplishment to pomposity. - Andrew Watson

7. In our business, people talk about your science as being your immortality. Others talk about your kids as being your immortality. You father managed to have both 'main effects' AND the 'interaction term', in the person of you. - Jeremy Wolfe

8. I was in considerable awe of him but he wore his reputation lightly, having the courtesy to treat me like a serious scientist.  I remember on one occasion, at a conference in California, chatting to him and then giving Bob and Russ DeValois a lift in my car;  I don't think I have ever driven so carefully, fearful of what an accident might do to our understanding of colour vision. I -Pete Thompson

9. He was a great and modest man! His work will continue to inspire many generations to come. -Lucia Vaina

10. I cannot say anything more. It is too hard for me o think of him now. Whenever I thought of him I always felt happy and comfortable. He is the best man in my life. -Keiji Uchikawa

11. I got to know him quite well by listening to his outstanding talks and reading many of his papers. Indeed, most of what I know of color vision came from a very thorough reading of his book. I also admired his love of baseball, which is paralleled by my love of football. -Hugh Wilson

12. Sometimes there is a dedicated teacher/mentor who at a particular point in time defines ones course through life. Bob Boynton was that person for me and for ever so many others.  -Jim Gordon

13. I am ever grateful for the start I had in academia at UCSD with you leading the vision group. It was an intellectually active and socially congenial group. -Carol Cicerone

14.  I can't go to a baseball game or read a paper on color vision without thinking of Bob Boynton.  Thanks for your high standards, unsurpassed integrity,  and good Midwestern humor.  –Jack Werner

15. the lessons of straight shooting, fair play, and thoughtful action I have always tried to keep in mind. You had a great effect on my career and my life, and those of many others. Thanks. -Jim Ison

16. Bob is one of the great men in vision science that I looked up to and have always respected, as a scientist and as a man. To Bob--with respect and thanks for being an example of how to work and how to live. Salutations. -Bob Shapley

17. Sometimes there is a dedicated teacher/mentor who at a particular point in time defines ones course through life. Bob Boynton was that person for me and for ever so many others.  -Jim Gordon

18. Human Color Vision has taught most of us whatever we know about that uniquely wonderful field, where psychology makes contact with the deepest currents of human thought. –Jack Yellot