Josh loved Dogs!

June, 2011 - left to right: Myself (James), Josh, Donut & Mark

Another quick share: on March 3, 2011, my dog Pretzel was struck and killed by a car. Nobody understood better than Josh what a devastating impact this had on me. I recall sitting in his office (he was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the time) as he explained that he was still saddened by the loss of a dog (belonging to a friend) he dearly loved, that had passed away a decade past.

Perhaps 6 weeks later, I told Josh that my wife and I were planning on adopting a new puppy, and that further, little Donut would be spending her days with us in the lab for a few months. Josh took a shine to her immediately, calling her simply "little dog." He was always happy to introduce our new mascot, never taking issue even when she had accidents on the small rug at the main lab-entrance.

I remember clearly going over some data with Josh as he played with Donut; he was letting her nibble on his hand a bit, and he said to me: "I hope I'm not going against any attempts at training by letting her chew on my hand." I replied that this was no problem what-so-ever, and indeed it is not. There are, however, few things that Donut now enjoys quite so much as the taste of my fingers.

Thanks so much to Ruth Schippert for sending me this photo.