Charles Edward Miller, 1925-1984

A professional lifetime is not fulfilled unless one is privileged to have had an associate from whom one learns the necessity of standards. The colleague who teaches by example, gentle cajoling, or outright insistence never to compromise accuracy and precision is indeed one of inestimable value. In his endlessly patient, tolerant, and flexible but exacting way, Charles Edward Miller was such a colleague. Whether one was an established investigator or a novice first testing the waters of mycology before plunging in, the treatment was the same: generous responsiveness and impartiality, a demand for responsible thought and evaluation, and an uncompromising principle that one could never lose face by being accurate.