Posted by Kurt Reymers on April 25, 2001 at 01:36:31 from 207.175.211.89 :
I've known Ed for the past seven years as a mentor and friend. His tutelage Ed was able to continue teaching until his final days. He did so because The day of his passing I was fortunate enough to meet with him for several In loving memory,
was extraordinary. Many people who possess his intellect become haughty,
overconfident and find too much self-importance in that intellect. Ed never
did. Rather than impart knowledge to his students, he brought
self-knowledge out of them. As my understanding of his unusual pedagogy
deepened, so did our relationship. Eventually he came to think of me as
more than a student, and I came to think of him as more than a teacher: we
became good friends. Despite significant differences in our stature, he
always greeted me with a big hug and let me know how good it was to see me.
The feeling was mutual.
teaching was his passion, his project. He commented to me on more than one
occasion that he was always pleasantly amazed that he could actually make a
living teaching sociology. Because of this passion, Ed touched students'
lives in ways that most teachers simply cannot. I'm glad to read that he
had been writing his own 'book', an autobiography that will no doubt be a
fascinating review of his life through his own eyes. He was his own student
until the end.
hours, during which time we held a lengthy discussion about internet
community (the topic of my PhD dissertation). He was exhilarated by the
idea. In the past few months he wrote to me that he wanted to become an
internet sociologist. He would be tremendously pleased now with the effort
to create a "cyberjournal" remembering his life. I am looking forward to
reading more tales about how Ed touched the lives of all who got to know
him.
Kurt Reymers