Tribute to Jon Hodge

When I met Jon, decades ago when I was a student, the sense of being enveloped in vast learning was immediate and would have been thoroughly intimidating were it not for the fact that he was so kind and supportive, and made everything I said in response (which was nothing, really) into something interesting and worthwhile. It was awe-inspiring and endearing and the same every time after that. I never really understood why he might want to talk to me at all (our projects were so different) until it finally occurred to me: he was simply and truly a beautiful person.