Mick Alexander

​Don and I met in 1976 as he started his postdoc with Harold Goodglass and Edith Kaplan and I started my neurology fellowship with Norman Geschwind and Frank Benson. Those names -- so long ago. That began a long friendship. Like many, our friendship had its up and down moments, but Don's endless patience and warmth was irresistible. We settled into the strongest friendship of my adult life, and I am happy that I imagine that I am not the only friend of his who might make the statement. We also developed a long clinical research collaboration as he pulled me into this deep interest in frontal lobe/executive disorders and managed even to find funding for me for over a decade in this collaboration in Canada and Boston. There should be a formula that could compute the share of success in my career that I owe to his persistent support. It is a big share, all the while he lied with a straight face, telling me how essential I was. Not very true but felt nice to hear it. Between friendship and collaboration, I visited often, stayed with him off and on for years. He was a very hard person to treat - quick with the grabbing the check, one or more bottles of wine always ready before you could offer to get one. I have many stories, beginning with the home made pasta debacle of 1977 which I will never tell, through his hysterical tale about how the "liver rounds" one night at my office at the VA happened to end up destroying the office, through … well, many, but this is my favorite and I sent Brian pictures to post. BTW - do any of you have trouble typing Brian, always ending up with "Brain" or is it just me? 2008 and my ever romantic son and his fiancee decide to get married in France where they had spent a lot of time - a small family wedding at a charming country inn with a great chef. (How he found this place is also a story.) There would be a large, second wedding in Santa Fe for friends and and extended families. After research they discovered that the wedding could be made official in France, but the paperwork was intimidating - France after all. Nonetheless, they wanted it to feel like a "real" wedding. We were all put to thinking of a person who would be able to pull off this ceremony, not feel self-conscious and bring some gravitas. My wife suggested Don - hell, he had even been in a monastery! It seemed instantly correct. I sent an email, asking him to read it while seated. He agreed, and he threw himself into it. He even had a robe, a gift from a visit to Africa, I think. (Has any academic seen more countries on someone else's dollar, Euro, etc?), On a visit to Boston, he met with my son and his girl friend to discuss the nuptials. I believe that the marriage night was probably not covered, but he suggested material from his favorite philosophers that they incorporated in their vows. We all met in Avignon for a several day vacation and tour of the area. Then family and a few friends assembled for a few days at the inn in Bonnieux. The wedding went off without a hitch. It was a huge success. Don was great and to this day a few of the attendees don't believe that it was not real. Attentive, generous, genuine, reflective - all with humor - it was Don.