Sam Roweis died unexpectedly on January 12, 2010.


He was a truly wonderful person; a beloved son, husband and father; and a treasured friend and colleague.

This is a place for all of us who were lucky enough to know Sam to share our memories and to help celebrate his life.
If you would like to add an article to this blog please contact samblog@linden-sahani.net. Or you may leave a comment on any article. (Comments are moderated: please bear in mind that this is a place to remember Sam and to help celebrate his life.)

There is also an album of photographs for which contributions are welcome. Instructions on how to contribute appear next to album.


Thursday 14 January 2010

from Padhraic Smyth

I will never forget the first lecture course I taught, back around 1995. The course was on pattern recognition. In the very first lecture, there was a very animated and enthusiastic student providing suggestions and comments throughout the lecture - it was almost as if there were two of us lecturing - I was glad for the helpful input. I wondered if the the student was perhaps a first-year undergraduate, or maybe even from high-school - he seemed much too young to be a grad student. After the class, he came up and introduced himself, and showed me several neat ideas on the chalkboard to help in presenting the material. He was a Phd student and his name was Sam. For the rest of that quarter he aced every problem I could think of. I soon realized that I wasn't teaching Sam but he was teaching me. I was very fortunate to know Sam for the next 15 years and benefit from his terrific insights and incredibly generous personality. Its so sad that he is no longer with us, we have lost a brilliant mind and an amazing person.

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