Dear Colleagues,

I am saddened to hear this news. My contact with Rod was in the early days of my tenure at Davis. In the first year of my teaching I was assigned Phy 245B which is a serious course (for an experimentalist) on Standard Model of particle physics. I used to burn the midnight oil almost every night - what made it interesting was that I had Rod for company. I can not count how many middle of the night discussions we had - they were all very illuminating and invigorating. He would drop by, we would make coffee (good stuff before Starbucks emerged) and discuss physics.

One encounter I remember very vividly was when he dropped by my office once at about 2 AM and posed a question: "Can impedance ever be negative?". I thought immediately that it was an absurd concept but since Rod was asking it, I felt that it deserved a discussion - such was my respect for him! It was an excellent moment of indulging in basic physics.

Rest in peace, Rod Reid ... you will be missed. Regards,

Mani