Sad News

We received word yesterday that one our former classmates has passed away. Dedicated readers of this site may recall me mentioning an older gentleman from South Africa that quit his accounting job to study International Relations. He was quite a story. Thirty odd years in accounting with his own business, gobs and gobs of money, but woke up and realized he was wasting his life on meaningless pursuits. So, he sold his business and started pursuing his dream - to study in the US. First came the MA and after that, he was going to law school (accepted at a law school in Atlanta).

And then the other shoe dropped. Cancer. Diagnosed in April or May. Stomach cancer that had already spread to the spine. The prognosis, as most people familiar with cancer know, was not good. Dennis, always having a great sense of humor, joked that he'd be back for the Fall orientation before heading to the US for law school. Later, he said, via email, that "it didn't make any sense. [He] was healthy all [his] life. Never sick and then suddenly, this." We never got a chance to share a laugh with him after that.

None of us really knew Dennis that well. He was older and had his own life and his own family. But we all shared a mutual respect. He was warm, friendly, generous, and smart as a whip. But more than that, even when he used to wax poetic about extremely complicated International Economic stuff that no one could keep up with and there was absolutely no expectation that we would have any idea what he was talking about, he always treated us like equals. He always expected us to follow him intellectually and then, he always wanted to know what we thought because he valued and respected our opinion. He was a rare inspiration.

Dennis Shore, rest in peace.