In a sense I didn't know Rob well. Occasionally we exchanged e-mail about this and that, but we weren't serious correspondents. And of course we never met.
But in some ways I knew him better than many people I meet face-to-face every day.
I read his postings with admiration, and looked forward to them. Lots of people, like me, must have looked at this or that piece of nonsense and thought: "Heh. I wonder what Rob'll say about that". The Talmudic precision Steve wrote about was a crucial tool in what we do here, even if occasionally it could drive you up the wall. I shall miss it (hell, I've been missing it already) more and more. And I loved his enjoyment of the life he led, and his feeling of deliberation and repose.
It's desperately sad that he's gone.
