I learned only several years ago that the day the Professor held his brilliant soccer stadium prayer meeting prior to the eventual agreement he fashioned to give a free South Africa it`s new government, was actually my 53rd birthday, and while my old friend "Wash" could not know that, I felt blessed by that coincidence nontheless.

I was a roommate of the Professor (whom we addressed lovingly as "Wash") for several years at Claverly Hall and then Quincy House at Harvard, and even though never seeing him again after our 1962 graduation (I picked up the Professor`s cap and gown the day day before our graduation, and he and his beloved Rispah joined my parents and me for a while at the post-graduation luncheon), I have always felt honored to have known this most remarkable man.            On many nights, "Wash" and I engaged in a memorable barter....I would apply baby oil to his dry, cracked skin and then run across the street to a nearby variety store and get him a pint of vanilla ice cream, which he would subsequently devour...In exchange for that he would tell me stories of his earlier life in Kenya, suggesting books for me to read (e.g. Jomo Kenyatta`s, "Facing Mount Kenya"  and his own "LaMumba`s Congo", which I still own). As brilliant as he was, he also loved to joke, tease, and could exude a warmth and joy that were infectious. I cherished my time with him, and to this day, treasure my memories of him, including having lunch one day in the Quincy House dining room with the Professor and Eleanor Roosevelt, who was totally charmed by the Professor`s
intelligence, intellectual curiosity, and charm.                                                                     Wash, may you forever rest in the peace you cherished and gave to others.