I just heard about Dr. Liebler's sudden passing. He was my thesis advisor. I hadn't seen him in years until last Christmas when I was in town over the holiday. It was great to see him and we had a nice chat.

So sorry for his family and the department.

Diane Belak

I'm saddened to learn this news.

Bob and I shared an office at MSRI in 1990. In his quiet and unassuming manner he touched lives deeply and personally in an unforgettable way.

Steve Doty

I was very sorry to hear of passing away of Bob Liebler. I knew him reasonably well and during my one year at Michigan Tech in 99-2000. Bob Liebler had invited me to give a talk in their weekly combinatorics seminar activity. He was an extremely good researcher and a very warm person. Please pass my condolences to his family. Thanks and with regards.

Sincerely

Sharad

I am shocked to hear this. An old and dear friend he was, from our days in Ann Arbor, and I had expected him to be with us for a very long time.

Spyros

Spyros forwarded your e-mail with the terrible news about Bob. I am really shocked and sad about it. He was a very good walker with a lot of experience from the Rockies, so it is hard to understand how this could happen to him in California.

Please pass on deep sympathies from Colin and me to Linda. We did visit them in Fort Collins that year I was in Nebraska.

Jenny

Terrible news. I only met him last year at Fort Collins but I wished I had met him earlier in my life.

Phyllis and I have driven around and hiked in Banff (during a conference). Every high mountain peak and every cirque makes me think of Bob.

bill

I just returned from Ireland, and knew nothing about Bob's tragic death. It is quite a shock, especially since Chris and I went snow shoeing with him in Banff at the BIRS conference. He seemed in terrific shape, and certainly was an experienced hiker and climber. I cannot understand it.

Gary

Thanks for letting me know about Bob ---terrible and tragic loss.

Bob was a great and fun-loving guy and he will be missed. Once when I could not understand a proof in one of Bob's articles, I sent him a question saying that I was going round and round but could not get it. He sent me back a reprint of the paper with the proof to the question written in the margins of the paper ---but around and around in the margins--you had to keep turning the paper round and round etc. ---maybe even counterclockwise--but he hoped I got it this way round.

Regards, Norm

Sylvia has been keeping me informed about this tragedy. I knew Bob a little especially in the 70's while I was a grad student and soon after graduating. In fact I invited him to Wright State for a few days in the 80's where he gave a colloquium and we had a day of interesting math Very sad.

Manley

This is terrible news. Horrible. I heard it this afternoon from Bob Guralnick, but not what the situation was. It's difficult to comprehend.

Cheryl

What a shock! As one of Bob's seven Ph.D. students I'm incredibly saddened. My condolences to his family and other friends.

Dear friends, I am terribly shocked by sad news about sudden death of Bob.

Please send our deep sincere condolences to the family of Bob.

I met with Bob a few times, including last year.

For many monthes a year ago we were working together over proposal to BSF. Though it was not accepted, this communication was a great pleasure and fantastical experience for all us. Last recent words of Bob to our virtual team was the expression of the hope for future benefits of our attempts to collaborate.

Bob was very friendly, honest and kind person with exceptionally deep devotion to mathematics and wide generous scope of research interests. His influence on modern combinatorics, algebra and geometry is incomparable with a physical amount of his publications.

The light of his ideas will shine for us for a very long time.

I am very sorry by these sad news.

Sincerely, Misha Klin

I am in shock.

Bob was all the things Misha mentioned, plus much more. In particular, he was a most imaginative thinker, which contributed greatly to his career as an outstanding mathematician.

Above all, I respected Bob's honesty. He was direct and forthright.

Folks, we have lost a terrific colleague and an even greater friend.

Bill was closest .. Bill and Bob formed an incredibly gifted team.

I had known Bob since 1979, but never got to know him as well as I would have liked. I am hoping to learn more about Bob in the forthcoming years, with Bill as my source.

I still cannot believe this awful news ..

Andy

and another contribution by Andy:

I first met Bob at Ohio State around 1981 when we attended a class together in representation theory. It was only earlier this year that I had the wonderful experience of preparing a grant proposal with him. Everyone involved worked intensively on the proposal for 1-2 months solid, and it was a real bonding experience for all of us. I am very grateful that I had this opportunity, and I will miss him greatly.

This is really very sad. Give my condolences to his family.

I am sorry to hear the sad news. Bob will be missed.

ich bin schockiert ueber diese Nachricht.

Er war im Mai 1992 in BT und wir haben in dieser Zeit ein Paper geschrieben: http://www.springerlink.com/content/g41mhn2286949m94/

Bob's Favorite Lemma ist ein wichtiges Theorem in meiner Habilitationsschrift.

Translation: I am shocked about the news. He was in Bayreuth in May 1992 and during that time we wrote a paper (preprint link see above). Bob's favorite Lemma is an important Theorem in my Habilitation.

I will never forget, when I first met him in 1984, his enthousiasm when telling "you do not know what a blue sky is unless you have been in Colorado".

I found this photo of Bob. It was taken in June 2005, when Rieuwert Block and his wife Karen were about to leave town to go to Ohio. Next to Bob is Alexander and his wife Kinga.

Hi

I would like to share a couple of photos of Bob that I'll attach. The first one with his dog I took close to Halloween in 2005 at Bob and Linda's place - that Halloween I spent with Bob and Linda in their home. The second photograph is the last photograph that Bob sent to me - of Bob, John Bamberg and Celle Lavrauw in the Colorado Mountains - in March 2008.

Bob was fascinated with the wild life around Perth. The last two photographs are small versions of ones he emailed to me during his last visit to Perth in 2007 - his email subjects were "Talk about flexibility" and "The parrots were drinking from the gutter" (that is, the gutter above his office window).

Cheryl

Jeroen Schillewaert, UC Canterbury, New Zealand

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