About three years ago I had a lunch with Bob Pease. For years I had read his column, agreeing with much of what he said and disagreeing, sometimes to the point of yelling at the page, with some of what he said. Bob created a role for himself, and grew the role – grouch, perhaps even curmudgeon, larger than life, analog guru, pragmatist, and puncturer of bubbles of bogosity. Himalayan walker and VW Beatle driver.
Over the lunch, which covered a multitude of topics, he confirmed the image the column had created, but it was clear hat the image of the hands-on pragmatic engineer was not just image. He was indeed that. He was also dogmatic about the difficulty of analog design and the superiority of analog designers over digital ones, who relied on tools.
And now Bob is dead, killed in his Beatle after hitting a tree without wearing his seat belt.
It is somehow incongruous. Bob being reported dead after falling down a mountain in the Himalayas would be acceptable, but hitting a tree? Nat Semi has posted this tribute. It is the Bob Pease I remember.
