Michael would gab with me in the afternoons. This past Fall he knew that his health was not so good and think that’s why he related some stories from back when he was around 20 (and had no fear of death). Spoke regularly with him about science and liberal politics, but these were something completely different: those days he was a head lifeguard in South Chicago in charge of a lot of swimming pools, and always trying to make deals with gang leaders for swimming times and rules around pools. Those days South Chicago folk tended not to be good swimmers, so there were a lot of drownings. Because he was good at it, if Michael was around they would always run to get him from the office to perform the resuscitation. And he was 7/7 for bringing people back! One guy was a gang leader’s brother who was pulled out of the murky deep end. Michael resuscitated the guy, but didn’t know at the time that the leader was watching from behind him. The gang leader later told him that if his brother didn’t make it, Michael wouldn’t make it, either. Michael was one very brave and principled man.