I learned via the twitter machine that my former colleague, John DiNardo, passed away.
I only worked with John a couple of years, but he was...well, John was really awesome. He was kind and generous and larger than life and hilarious and of course way smarter than the average bear. He also had good politics. Economics isn't quite as right wing as you might think from the public face of economics (some mix of CNBC and the WSJ and actual right wing nuts in academia), but John was practically "nationalize the means of production" level lefty (I don't want to misrepresent or caricature his views, but he was very lefty).
I never saw him after I left California, but he did reach out to me via email 3 years ago or so. In addition to his other quality traits, he was genuinely humble and was surprised I remembered him. To me, of course, it was dude... you are John Fucking DiNardo, of course I remember you. Everybody who meets you remembers you. I don't think he quite understood that he was always a presence that could not be ignored because he was not the type of person who ever used that power, even though he had it.
He hinted he had health problems though I don't know what they were. Anyway, just a small remembrance from someone who knew the guy briefly many many years ago but of course I remember him because he was...John Fucking DiNardo.
...(ah I see from clicking through on his web page that he had leukemia though I don't know if that is the cause of his death).
