ForeverMissed
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Please share your memories of a remarkable scientist, teacher, and friend. 

October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023
Ari, Josh, and I are together sharing memories and again reading these tributes. They bring us such joy!

One fun memory: Dave reading the boys excerpts from a Dave Barry book. He'd start in a regular way, then begin laughing, try again to read, then laugh harder and tear up, then try again until we were all hysterical. 
October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023
I was just looking through some old photo albums and came across some pictures of Dave from when he and I were roommates at the University of Virginia. Although that is now more than 40 years ago it seems like yesterday. I often think of the silly things Dave and I did together, but mostly I just think about how much I miss him and how I wish he was here now. I take a little comfort in thinking about his laugh and his smile and how he lived life the way it should be lived.
October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023
Hard to believe it has been 9 years since that terrible day. We miss him. I still find myself, from time to time, thinking about what Dave would have said when we are discussing some topic in a faculty meeting, etc. Dave would have also been really excited about all of the ways that data science and AI are blending with cognitive science, and he was way ahead of his time in anticipating a lot of this. I'm sure he would have done some ground-breaking new stuff in this day and age. Cheers to Dave!
October 28, 2022
October 28, 2022
I still regularly think of Dave. This year, finally, Konrad Kording, Dan Goldreich, and I are wrapping up our book on Bayesian models of perception and action, and we are dedicating it to Dave. Besides the fact that he was the best possible mentor a trainee could wish for, he has had a profound influence on the field of computational modeling of perception and action.
October 7, 2022
October 7, 2022
Yesterday, Dave's family celebrated his life together and shared stories. We remember the ways in which he continues to give us strength and joy, along with moments. With Halloween on its way, we remembered the costumes Dave wore (one year, he was an Em & Em--one of his favorite candies). Just one of many ways he brought joy to us.
October 7, 2022
October 7, 2022
As my experience of advising students accumulated, I realized how difficult it is to interact with students as Dave did. I am just trying to emulate him.
October 6, 2021
October 6, 2021
Not a day goes by when I don't think of Dave. I have a picture of Dave and I on my dresser. It's the photo that I treasure the most. Dave, I miss you so much but I take comfort in knowing that on some level you're still with us. You certainly inspire me to be the best version of myself.
October 6, 2021
October 6, 2021
It's hard to believe it is now 7 years since the terrible day that we lost Dave. In some ways, it seems like yesterday still (and yet so much has happened in the past few years). My thoughts go out to Deb and her sons today, as well as all of Dave's family. I hope that everyone is doing well in these difficult times. Dave's patience and wisdom and humor are still very much missed around here.
October 6, 2021
October 6, 2021
I think of Dave and the Knill family every time I drive past their house on Edgemoor. A wonderful, gentle man and such a kind and supportive father. We shared raising our boys together on our street. Dave was the kindest of all of us parents. Happy days
October 6, 2021
October 6, 2021
Thinking of Dave on this 7th anniversary of his death; the years haven't diminished the magnitude of loss created by his passing. In fact, our nations growing intolerance for different points of view and lack of consideration for context and nuance only seems to magnify the loss of someone who had a remarkable ability to combat these weaknesses. Once again, we'll be lifting a beer tonight in your honor, Dave, and in the hope that all of your family and friends are doing well.
October 5, 2021
October 5, 2021
On the day before the moment that will mark Dave being gone for 7 years--incredibly hard to believe--I find myself grateful for this site, for the many comments that leave me smiling and nodding: Yes, he was so kind, so able to say what he thought in ways that others could hear, so honest, so brilliant and such a fair and clean thinker ... and so deeply missed. Thank you, Greg and BCS, for creating and maintaining this site, and thank you to all of you who have shared your thoughts. It has truly helped to heal the grief, and it continues to help. 
November 1, 2020
November 1, 2020
A group of families on Edgemoor Rd raised our kids together with the Knills. We are the only family left on the street. And he was the best among us. Every time I pass their house, I think of what an amazing dad Dave was and how supportive he was to his kids, laughing with them and supporting their hopes and dreams. 

I feel a tremendous sense of loss that that Ari and Josh don’t have him beside them as young adults, but I imagine them remembering things he had shared with them when they were younger and hope that they feel him with them now. 

So many miss Dave in their lives.
October 6, 2020
October 6, 2020
Thinking of Dave and his family on this anniversary of his death. The present tumultuous time we live in makes his absence feel even more acute. It’s uplifting to just remember his compassion, laughter, interest in hearing different viewpoints, and the clarity of his thinking. We need more humans like Dave.
October 6, 2020
October 6, 2020
On this anniversary of Dave's death, I just want to offer a remembrance of Dave to his family and friends. I hope that all of his family members are doing well. Best wishes to all of you. We still miss Dave greatly.
November 1, 2018
November 1, 2018
Thinking of the whole family on this day, missing Dave and feeling lucky to have known him. Ernie and I will raise a glass of beer tonight in honor of all the memories.
October 6, 2018
October 6, 2018
It's the kindness that I'm missing most today. That coupled with Dave's no BS engagement with ideas, while never losing contact with the communal aspect of the endeavor (to understand). He shared wisdom mixed with modesty, respect for idea and for the Other. We could use a little more of this in science and society right now.
April 10, 2018
April 10, 2018
I had to do some research for work and came across an article featuring Dr. Knill. As when I first heard the news, I felt such a pang. I was working as an undergrad student in the Center for Visual Science when Dr. Knill was first interviewed. I remember sitting in on his demo lecture, and then leaving to go tell everyone, "hire this guy!!!" He was at once brilliant and kind, and I think we will all keep on missing him...
November 1, 2017
November 1, 2017
Happy birthday Dave, you should have been 57 today, with several more years of training another generation of scientists. I feel honored to have learned so much from you, from implementing a Bayesian ideal observer, to avoiding the temptation to chase after flashy experiments and instead focusing on insight and consistency. That's something I still carry with me in my work outside of academia - focus on the projects that are interesting regardless of how they turn out, because they solve the next problem that needs to be solved.

Deb, Ari, and Josh, I think of you often. It's so cruel that Dave was taken from you so early. He always spoke of you with such joy and pride, and I hope you always carry that with you.
October 6, 2017
October 6, 2017
I still think of Dave often, and know now, more than ever, how lucky I was to have known him. We need more souls like his walking this earth. His sincerity, compassion, and thoughtful analysis of complex situations was a rare gift. After 3 years, the void left by his passing is still felt deeply.
October 6, 2017
October 6, 2017
Thinking about Dave after his passing used to be very painful for me, it wasn't a pleasant emotion or experience at all. I just realized today is the anniversary, and find that now while there’s still sadness, it's not exactly a negative experience. I still have thoughts like, “Dave would really appreciate this problem”, and I can think about my time working with him with fondness rather than having my memories corrupted by the pain of his passing. I’m grateful to have all those positive memories lasting beyond the grief.
October 6, 2017
October 6, 2017
Happy Birthday, Dave, we miss you! Like a lot of Dave's colleagues, I'm sure, I often think about him. Dave's wisdom, cool demeanor and sense of humor sure would have been a blessing to all of us during the past year.
November 1, 2016
November 1, 2016
I think of Dave often. He comes to mind when I try to be a better person in small and big ways. He showed by example that a razor sharp mind can sculpt and carve without cutting and hurting.
October 6, 2015
October 6, 2015
Today’s anniversary is one reminder, among so many reminders of Dave, of our great loss. To Dave, we think of you so often and continue feel the pain of your absence. To Deb and all of Dave’s family, wishing you continued strength, comfort, and happy memories of Dave—as wonderful a person as I’ve ever known.
October 6, 2015
October 6, 2015
Hard to believe it has been a year now. We miss you, Dave. My best wishes to you family and friends on this difficult anniversary.
August 27, 2015
August 27, 2015
I am a neuroscientist working in London UK. I met David only once and, briefly, at Intentional meeting at which he was an invited speaker and had just given an excellent talk. But we had the opportunity to chat informally about our shared interests, from which it was clear that he had all the attributes that others who knew him well have emphasized. He was a giant in the field whose contributions will endure. My condolences to his family.
June 11, 2015
June 11, 2015
I am so very sorry to hear about Dave's passing away.and my feelings go to Debbie, the kids, and the other family members. I was a beginning faculty member at Minnesota when Dave joined as a postdoc. The memories tumble over each other: academic and political discussions, skiing on the North shore together, his (failed) attempt to teach me how to properly shoot a basketball, and working with Herb Pick on the cognitive science conference and book. His astuteness, his honesty, and his ability to become excited by just about any challenge to our understanding and behavior became engraved in my memories. His contributions to academia as well as to making this world a kinder place cannot be erased
March 4, 2015
March 4, 2015
I'm terribly saddened to hear about Dave's tragic passing. I got a chance to interact with Dave while I was post-docing at CVS in Rochester between 2000-2002. I can't separate the talented scientist from the great humanist, as he was eager to teach his profound understanding of applied mathematics not only selflessly but also in a way that took active interest in the success of his pupil and the advancement of science in general. A shy demeanour, a welcoming smile, a knowing look, and a genuine humility and kindness all understated the force of his intellect. I will truly miss him.
January 1, 2015
January 1, 2015
Most of us know David Knill for his pioneering work on Bayesian modeling of visual perception. David was unique in being able to combine carefully crafted psychophysical experiments and serious mathematical modeling.

Regretfully, only a few of us have been lucky to interact with Dave. I will remember his generosity in spending time with us in Dan Kersten’s lab, his unpresuming thirst to get to the bottom of a problem, and of course his contagious laughter.
December 24, 2014
December 24, 2014
Dave was a postdoc at the University of Minnesota with Dan when I was a graduate student with Gordon and Dan. His office was always in some state of disorganization (but not messy). His thought process was nothing but. Talking to Dave always brought clarity: what were the variables, what to optimize, how to test this? Then there was his characteristic laughter. Just last VSS we were chatting about how we never managed to collaborate on any project.

I received the sad news through a text message when I was at an NIH study section. One of Dave's proposals was discussed at the same study section a year or two ago when I started serving on that panel. I remembered the discussion. The shocking news put everything in perspective. I miss Dave as a colleague and friend!
December 22, 2014
December 22, 2014
Dave Knill was as much a part of my graduate experience at UR as my adviser, Robbie Jacobs. No one could have asked for or gotten better guidance through the dissertation process than they provided. What I remember most and best about Dave was his ability to look at a newly published article and after just a few minutes of going back and forth between tables, results, and findings say if it was an example of quality research and if so what it added to our current knowledge. And I quote him often for having said, "we're never going to understand the brain in our lifetimes, but we can hope to narrow that standard deviation of our error". Dave will be missed, but will continue to inspire those who knew him.
December 21, 2014
December 21, 2014
What a shock, and what a loss to our community! David was a pleasure to interact with; he was full of insight and knowledge, and at the same time extremely modest and generous. His work was solid, elegant, rigorous, and creative. His contributions will be long-lasting and he will be missed as a wonderful peer...
December 12, 2014
December 12, 2014
Dave was my adviser at UofR. I also had the good luck of working with an amazing scientist like him on a research paper.
He cared about his students' future. I will never forget the many times that he went out of the way to help me both inside and outside the classroom. Dave played a major role in my undergrad and made my college life a great learning experience. As a mentor, he was always so impossibly patient and calm with me whether it came to teaching, advising or consoling. He always stood by me and gave his support unconditionally. His intelligent foresight and logical manner of thinking was not restricted to cognitive science research but extended to advising on real life situations.
Dave, your kindness will never be forgotten. I miss you and will always remember you.
Forever grateful, Amulya
December 8, 2014
December 8, 2014
David was one of THE BEST friends I had in our final year at UVA. I was hit hard when I read my UVA Alum magazine class notes last night. Oh, how I wish I stayed in touch. (Note to self and all, treasure your friends - and let them know! - now! )
Memorable forever: one late night we "borrowed" some really old wheelchairs (probably left out for trash) from the hospital. well, we rolled around and quoted the poems we knew - our favorites - and 2 were E.A.Poe. God bless the Knill family, David's wonderfulness will shine on, and we are all blessed by his life.
November 23, 2014
November 23, 2014
I had the honor and the pleasure of working very closely with Dave since we first began to recruit him from Penn to Rochester until his tragic death last month. Very soon after his arrival in Rochester, I asked him to serve as Associate Director of the Center for Visual Science, which I direct, and he graciously agreed. Since then, hardly any significant decisions were made in CVS without consultation first with Dave. I am so very grateful for the wisdom he brought to each of these decisions. What was so special about Dave was his ability to dissect an issue down to its essence, targeting the relevant aspects and casting aside the irrelevant. Dave was remarkably fair and generous, and his recommendations were impeccably devoid of even a hint of self-interest. Always frank and direct, he confronted the difficult questions head on. He also cared very deeply about his students and their careers. It was Dave, after all, who launched a course to teach them how to write grants, an absolutely critical skill for a successful scientist, especially these days, and one that generally falls outside the usual graduate school curriculum. 
Dave was also a very close personal friend. He and I talked a lot over the years about raising families and adventures we might organize that would create ever stronger bonds within them. Scuba diving was one of these, and I was thrilled that Dave had encouraged his family to learn to dive, as I had sometime earlier with my family.  My son Kris and I managed to dive with Dave only once, and never with our entire respective families. That single dive was an unforgettable experience, a story best told over a beer. I will always deeply regret that we did not find the time for more adventures of this kind together. Dave was so warm, so smart, so thoughtful, and so full of life, it remains difficult to comprehend that he is no longer with us. I will miss him on so many levels, always.
October 29, 2014
October 29, 2014
When Dave joined us at Minnesota as a postdoc, he brought us energy, brilliant insights, and wonderful collegiality. I remember him coming to my office to talk soon after his arrival, and flattering me with his interest in my work. Our conversation turned to geodesics, entropy, ideal observers and other interesting stuff. Talking to Dave was always a joy. Dave has been a superb contributor to vision science and a superb friend to all of us who had the privilege to know him. We will miss him deeply!
October 26, 2014
October 26, 2014
Dave was a very creative scientist, a wonderful collaborator and a great friend. He will be sorely missed.
October 19, 2014
October 19, 2014
I last talked to David at VSS, in front of his poster (with Oh-Sang Kwon and Duje Tadin), and as I remember it Dave was taking his turn, giving the co-authors a break. We had a wonderful discussion of the work (on judgments of position and motion). David was so enthusiastic and animated about the project and the future directions. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
I did not know David personally, but I greatly admired him as a scientist. His book "Perception as Bayesian Inference", co-authored with Whitman Richards, is both profound and beautifully written. It made a great impression on me as a new scientist just moving into vision from physics; in fact two of my very first vision papers are basically an "homage" to David's book. I was appalled to hear of his tragically early death. This is a great loss to science even if our loss is insignificant compared to the blow suffered by his family.
October 16, 2014
October 16, 2014
Dave was an invaluable voice on my thesis committee, and despite the short time I knew him the lessons I learned from him will stay with me for the rest of my life. It has been truly amazing to hear the stories of those whose lives he has touched, both at the funeral and on this page, and understand the vast impact he has had on countless lives.

One of my favorite memories I have of Dave was very early in grad school, when I stopped him after class to show him a figure that demonstrated a correlation I had found in my data. I was super excited to have found something I thought was worth talking about, and just expected him to take a few minutes to say that my finding looks good. Instead, after I explained what I was showing and how I got to it, he gently told me it was the wrong way to interpret my results. However, I was feeling a bit precious about the figure (I mean, I had found an Interesting Result!) and wasn't willing to let go of it. He picked up on my reservations, so his response was to ball up the figure and throw it into the wastebasket across the room.

What happened next was amazing. Rather than assert his authority and let me figure out for myself where I went wrong, he engaged me in a conversation about how I got to the result now residing in the wastebasket. I explained from the start what I was attempting to do, and he guided the conversation until we together found the point where I'd made my mistake. From there, he patiently laid out the relevant theory and made sure I was getting it, never getting too ahead or impatient with the rate I was absorbing the information. By the end of the conversation he had clearly laid out the right way to get to the goal I was pursuing and made sure I understood how to go about it. In total, he spent about an hour and a half on a conversation he wasn't planning on, but never made any indication that I was inconveniencing him or that he didn't have the time. All he cared about was helping me learn.

I've thought about that meeting a lot since then, and the lessons wrapped up in it. The first was a fundamental shift in the way I viewed my work. Research isn't about a blind scramble to find patterns, but rather an organized attempt to understand the how and why underneath what we observe. Despite being one of the fathers of applying Bayesian Inference to perception, he was always very clear in his belief that it was only a tool to help us understand the brain, and was not one to get carried away with putting theories ahead of reality. He was equally comfortable talking about theory and experimentation, which gave him deep insight into the meaning of both. The second thing I learned was from the way he treated me throughout the conversation. It could have been a defeat, and yet he turned it into progress. In that moment and in several conversations since he has demonstrated that keeping the well-being of others as a top priority is not incompatible with being a top tier scientist. It was amazing to hear the scope of his sincere caring for everyone he met, and encouraging to know that there is opportunity for a family man to pursue an academic career.

Dave will forever be a role model to me. Moving forward, I am going to do my best to use his lessons to walk a path similar to his, both professionally and personally. I believe the best way to honor him is to remember how he lived, and use the memory of his care for others as a template for how we should live.
October 13, 2014
October 13, 2014
While any premature death confronts the left-behind with the maddening frailty of life, my first response to the news of Dave’s passing was to shout why, of all people, he had to be the outlier. Dave was one the most wonderful people I have known. He was my advisor on a side project I did as a postdoc at the University of Rochester in 2007-8, on causal inference when combining peripheral visual information with memory for reaching movements. Dave generously made his time, insights, and lab resources available to this theoretical neuroscientist who wanted to get trained as a psychophysicist. In our discussions, he was always two steps ahead, but also always made sure I caught up. Dave was the kindest, gentlest mentor one could ever wish for, and had the extraordinary ability to take the pressure off of doing research. Research is stressful for many reasons, but it really helps if your advisor is not judgmental, makes you feel like an equal collaborator rather than like a minion, and prefers solid work that stands the test of time over fancy but fragile publications. Dave also had immense patience with struggling students, and treated students and postdocs with the same level of respect and engagement as professors.

After I had started a faculty job in Houston and could not finish my project, Dave was very understanding in spite of all the time he had invested in it. We kept in touch since. I found myself following Dave’s lead in many aspects of my academic life: exploiting the power of psychophysics for comparing process models of brain function, not shying away from the effort needed to “clean up” existing literature, and attempting to improve education (Dave once taught a statistics class for psychology majors entirely from Bayesian principles…). Dave was my favorite workshop invitee (on high-level vision in 2010, and on visual working memory in 2012), and my favorite suggested reviewer because of his breadth of knowledge and his fairness.

In scientific conversations, Dave’s comments were typically unassuming and unintrusive, but crystal-clear and the most valuable of all. He grasped new ideas very quickly. Back in Rochester for a talk in 2011, I told him about a new data set that we had collected, and with a single question (did you try an ISI of zero?), he revealed its flaws. During my talk, he correctly guessed the details of the categorization task we had used, because he had used a similar task 16 years earlier; amazingly, there was no trace of annoyance at my ignorance.

Unlike many scientists, Dave cared about the real world. Over dinner during the working memory workshop in Portland in 2012, we got to talk about the real-world applicability of our type of research, and Dave argued that a model-based understanding of working memory might lead to better diagnostic tests of concussion/traumatic brain injury. It was not only clear that he had far more than superficial knowledge of the practical need for such improved diagnosis in competitive sports (much more than say the average NIH grant applicant has about the disease they claim their research will help cure), but also that he cared deeply about the athletes’ fates.

I spoke with Dave most recently at the Vision Sciences Society meeting in May 2014, where he spontaneously sat down for an hour with my student Edgar Walker and me to give feedback on the talk on the aperture problem that Edgar was going to give the next day. He had no stake in the project at all.

One more memory I have of Dave is not science-related. One day when I was sitting on the sidelines in the U of R gym waiting for a badminton court to open up, I happened to see Dave play basketball with his sons on the neighboring, otherwise empty court. It was a beautiful image of family bonds.

Dave, I will miss you a lot.
October 12, 2014
October 12, 2014
It was great working for Dave in his lab as a programmer for the past four years. He was supportive in my work when I hit roadblocks, and he could easily explain complex concepts in such a natural way when he scribbled diagrams or equations on the whiteboard. After hours of programming in a freezing air-conditioned room, it was reassuring to step out to the lab conference room and see Dave there, always with a 7-Eleven Big Gulp or Coke can nearby, to happily answer yet another one of my questions. And he'd sometimes take me by surprise as well with an out-of-the-blue email of thanks for getting something done, even though it was just an everyday part of my job.

Dave also taught me the importance of work-life balance, which initially clashed with my workaholic tendencies. On my first day at work, not even an hour into my first project, he came by to tell me to take it easy and spend time settling into the department and Rochester; having a life outside of work was just as important. He also worried for me when I started my masters program part-time with an ambitious courseload and wanted to check that I still had time for myself even after work hours and class hours. Not to mention, it was always easy to strike up a conversation with him about non-work related topics, even during work meetings.

Although I only knew Dave mainly within the confines of Meliora Hall, I could tell he followed his own advice, from the many times he'd be out spending time with his family, or instances like the department canoe trip where he'd eagerly play ultimate frisbee alongside undergrad and grad students. (One time, he had forgotten his frisbee and drove half an hour just to get it and come back.) Dave had an infectious joy of life that I'll sorely miss, but I hope I and others who knew him can keep that life-loving spirit going strong.
October 12, 2014
October 12, 2014
Thoughtful, smart, other-centric, sincere – these are the words that come to mind when I think of Dave. Although we didn’t have any research collaborations, I worked with Dave on many committees and we had numerous conversations about education, politics, family, and travel. One characteristic that stands out is that Dave was an exceptional listener. No matter what priors he might have on a topic, he would really hear and evaluate different points of view and was comfortable expressing a change of position if new information was persuasive. Outside of meetings, our conversations often turned towards family (our kids are about 10 years older than Ari and Josh): there was never any doubt that this was where Dave’s heart was anchored. During those years of angst that most of us travel, when kids resent much of what their parents do and parents are wrestling with whether they should do more or less to keep their kids safe, Dave particularly enjoyed hearing about some of the crazy experiences we encountered and how we and our kids coped with those events. When I asked just a few weeks ago how Josh and Ari were doing, the emotion that came over Dave was especially heartwarming. The light in his eyes and smile that came over his face left no doubt that his sons had grown into young adults that earned his utmost pride and respect. Given the person Dave was, I know that he set a high bar for his kids, and I’m confident that Dave’s essence will live on through them. I’ll miss sharing time with Dave; I feel lucky to have known him.
October 11, 2014
October 11, 2014
Dave was a wonderful teacher, collaborator and friend to me, both when I was a graduate student at the University of Rochester, and in the years since. While he wasn’t my primary advisor, I was fortunate to work closely with him for a number of years. He was always generous with his time, advice, knowledge and encouragement, and so much of my training and interests can be traced directly back to him. More than anything else, he inspired me to be a better teacher, a better scientist and a better mentor and his example will continue to guide me in the years to come.

Dave had an incredible passion for discovery - he insisted that the point of research wasn’t just to publish papers, it was to learn something new. He would get so excited about every new idea that we would discuss, and he would be impatient to find out what the next analysis might show. He also brought a love of rigor to his science, “good enough” wasn’t ever good enough for him - he wanted to run one more experiment, one more analysis and one more test to really make sure that we understood the underlying process. Dave was also a wonderful example of how one might balance work and fun. While he derived great joy from research, he truly enjoyed so many more things - his family, running, skiing, scuba diving, Belgian beer, New Orleans, and the list goes on. 

I will miss Dave very much. I will miss his steadfast encouragement, wise counsel and his impeccable moral compass. I will miss being able to get his advice on whatever project I am working on, I will miss writing papers with him and most of all, I will miss talking to him.
October 11, 2014
October 11, 2014
I didn't know Dave super-well, but we work on similar questions and I always looked forward to chatting with him at conferences, when he visited Penn, or when I visited Rochester. He was deep in his thinking and generous with his insights, and his ideas were helpful to me in my own research. He developed a beautiful demonstration that illustrates how perceived 3D shape can interact with perceived surface lightness, and I often take advantage of this when I teach. I will miss him.
October 11, 2014
October 11, 2014
Dave was a professor of mine in the brain & cognitive sciences department. He was such a kind man. I'll never forget the many interactions we had in class and out of class; we would often chat about visual processing, FC Barcelona/soccer, and a myriad of other things. He was a brilliant man, and simply put, a nice, compassionate person. Dave's passing is so sad, but he will be remembered as an amazing person who touched the lives of so many people around him.
October 11, 2014
October 11, 2014
I meet Dave as a professor and director of the graduate program. He was a wonderful person. I will always remember a meeting with him. I was struggling with a research paper so I asked him for a meeting because of his expertise. The day of the meeting I mixed the hours and ended up arriving late and he was not in his office. To my surprise, even though it was my mistake, I received an email from him to reschedule. The meeting ended up being an incredible intelectual interaction, one that will leave a lasting impression on me. He is a great loss and my warm considerations to the family and friends.
October 10, 2014
October 10, 2014
I spent two years at the University of Rochester as a post-doc at the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department. I have a vivid memory of the contributions of David Knill to the weekly seminars, with sharp deep incisive questions, bringing us all at the closest of the scientifique question, but always offered with the utmost humility and genuine enthousiasme. This memory of him is and will continue to be inspiring.
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Recent Tributes
October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023
Ari, Josh, and I are together sharing memories and again reading these tributes. They bring us such joy!

One fun memory: Dave reading the boys excerpts from a Dave Barry book. He'd start in a regular way, then begin laughing, try again to read, then laugh harder and tear up, then try again until we were all hysterical. 
October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023
I was just looking through some old photo albums and came across some pictures of Dave from when he and I were roommates at the University of Virginia. Although that is now more than 40 years ago it seems like yesterday. I often think of the silly things Dave and I did together, but mostly I just think about how much I miss him and how I wish he was here now. I take a little comfort in thinking about his laugh and his smile and how he lived life the way it should be lived.
October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023
Hard to believe it has been 9 years since that terrible day. We miss him. I still find myself, from time to time, thinking about what Dave would have said when we are discussing some topic in a faculty meeting, etc. Dave would have also been really excited about all of the ways that data science and AI are blending with cognitive science, and he was way ahead of his time in anticipating a lot of this. I'm sure he would have done some ground-breaking new stuff in this day and age. Cheers to Dave!
Recent stories
March 9, 2017

David and I were neighbors and best friends in New Orleans.  This picture was taken in December 1969 I believe at one of my birthday parties.  I'm shocked to have just learned of his passing.  We had some great times when we were kids.

October 10, 2014

Dave loved the game of soccer!  I had the fortune of capturing this moment of joy between Dave and his son Josh during a fun game a few years ago (2008).

October 10, 2014

Over the last few days I have been thinking a lot about the time that I was Dave's post-doc. I changed to a somewhat different research field since then, but I always imagined meeting him again at a conference where we would chat about what we had been doing since. I am very sad that that will not going to happen.

I remember arriving in Rochester for my new job, together with my (since a few weeks) ‘dependent alien’ husband Andries, while our luggage got lost somewhere on the way and being somewhat shocked about the basement where everybody was working without any windows!?! Dave seemed to be happy enough though. Who needs windows when you can talk and think about cue combination and modelling, when you can write, program and simply get to the bottom of anything that needs to be figured out! I was very happy to work with someone that smart, that dedicated to science and so completely uninterested in trivial things like status and citations. He also wanted us students and post-docs to feel at home, and organized Friday afternoon drinks where we discussed religion and politics. For Andries and me, the opportunity to work in Dave’s lab also gave us the interesting experience to live in the US for a while and to explore the beautiful surroundings. I have very fond memories of a weekend in January 2007 when Dave invited CVS at a house somewhere in the snow. I don’t remember exactly where it was, but I do remember Dave’s warm hospitality (we were allowed to smuggle in a friend from the astrophysics department), playing games in the evening, cross-country skiing and trying out snow shoes for the first time in my life. We had a lot of fun, and I am sure Dave too, even though he could not stop himself from spending some time to work during this weekend as well!

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