Michael’s passing has touched me profoundly — for me, it’s been about losing a member for our Mulberry “family”. Over the years, I worked with Michael, not only on Balisage, but on several projects, including QA testing code he wrote to improve Mulberry’s tag library processing. And as someone whose descriptions of problems encountered running code often lack correct terminology (sigh), I initially worried Michael would question my test results or evaluation of a problem if I couldn’t articulate it succinctly. After all, this was Michael Sperberg-McQueen whose Balisage papers and closing presentations were master classes in the precise use of language and terminology! Instead, Michael’s responses were always appreciative of my work, even as he gently shepherded me towards proper terminology, juxtaposing my phrasing with the correct term of art in his explanation of a “fix” he had made in the code. I will miss those “tutorials”; having his trust was incalculable.

For Balisage, it was my privilege to transcribe most of Michael’s wrap-up presentations for inclusion in each year’s final proceedings. I always marveled how few notes he used as the basis for those presentations (and often longed for more when the recording of a name or phrase was muddled, or Michael included a quote in German or Latin). Transcribing his closings taught me so much, not only about markup and its history, but also about topics as diverse as German philosophy, Greek logic, and even Euclidean geometry.

A last word about Balisage: presenters and people working on the conference typically receive thank-you notes. Saturday I received a note from Michael for my work this year. As in years past, the card cover — and his tiny postscript on the back — held humor, even a touch of whimsy. His note was, as always, eloquent and generous in its gratitude for my small part in making the conference a success — something that really speaks more of Michael than myself. I will treasure that note and wish I could look forward to one from him next year. (And I will miss bear hugs from that big teddy bear of a man.)