from Hakwan Lau

i am somewhat shocked by how shocked i am to learn about this terribly sad news. truth is, i never quite thought of Jon as a close friend, because he always made me nervous! those were the days when i, as a postdoc at the "FIL", was starting to get frustrated about imaging and the game of science publishing in general. Jon would always give me a hard time over my fluffy project presentations. after grilling me effortlessly in public, he would write me long emails to explain to me why i was totally wrong, and my experimental design was hopelessly flawed, etc. then i would stubbornly write back to lamely defend myself, and we would fight a couple of rounds until he would end it with one of his signature wry last-words comments: "well ok, much better now with this new design. still flawed and flaky, of course. but if your goal is just to get past the average reviewer these days, this would probably do", or something like that. unfortunately, that was the main kind of communications we've had. but i come to realize how lucky i was. to be attentively scrutinized is probably the highest form of honor one can get from such great minds. and though i was naive, i wasn't so stupid not to realize how much i've learned from him through those interactions. Jon, thanks for caring, and generously letting me know that somebody like you cared. may you rest in peace.