I was a college intern at Fermilab in the summer of 2002. Erik ran the intern program, along with Roger Dixon and Maxine Hronek. I thought he was hilarious and inspirational, and that summer at Fermilab--the people I met there and the experiences I had--were life-changing. I dug out the end-of-the-program presentation I made that summer, where at the bottom of slides about my research, I also included some random funny quotes from Erik. I thought I'd share the quotes here.
“I’m convinced that only fundamentally insane people understand quantum mechanics.” -Erik
"Only insane people want to go back in time." -Erik
“You’re insane. You’re an insane person.” –Erik, to Roger
“The seesaw of life is unknowable.” -Erik
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I miss Erik. He was one of the first people I met at Fermilab, about 25 years ago. We worked together closely on dark matter experiments, supervised interns together and sat across the hall from each other for more than a decade. It was a rare day that we didn’t speak or just say hi and I always left in a better mood than when I came. I remember him as being always positive and cheerful and full of some enthusiasm (leafing through rare books, art, particle detectors!) that would break me out of worrying about whatever was going wrong with the experiment. I also learned a lot about physics and the practical workings of fermilab from this. We had many long trips together to SNOLAB and collaboration meetings and he was just a great person to go on a long car ride with and listen to old cassette tapes. It gives me a lot of pleasure now to recall some of those times. I’m sorry his family members need to suffer this loss.
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Erik had a tremendous zest for life. Whenever I had to go to fermilab for work, I mainly viewed them as opportunities to visit Erik and Karen. He was a great guy. I miss him.
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So sorry to hear of Erik's passing. More than any singular person, Erik is responsible for my love of and career in science. As a early high-schooler, Erik led the Saturday Morning Physics class- his enthusiasm and approachability made learnign fun and he took me under his easy going wing, giving me a day long tour of Fermilab and even introducing me to the college interns. I went on to become a Fermilab intern in college, spending 3 summers there than a year at CERN. I switched over to study planets in graduate school, but visited Erik throughout the years - he was always there with his infectious smile and supportive words. I'm now a professor a U Hawaii, leading an instrument that astronauts will take to the Moon in ~2029 and was recently thinking about Erik and how I long to emulate his style and approach to life. I hope I can affect at least one student the way he affected me.
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Erik and I among others attended graduate school at the University of Maryland. I recall how his exuberance and outgoing personality stood out so vividly in a sea of introverted Physics graduate students. He brought a lot of joy to us all.
One story I recall. We were house mates for a number of years and played a lot of pool together since we had a table in the basement. Erik once encountered a pool tournament competition at the University to pick the NCAA representative. On a whim he entered and came in second.
I am very sorry for his loss to all his family and friends.
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We are thinking of you Karen, Melody and Ashe and are so sorry to hear of Erik's passing. You and Erik were the very best neighbors we could ever have hoped for. We remember visiting with us on our back porch laughing at jokes and Erik always with a smile. He was so warm, funny and sweet. We will always remember him that way.
With Love,
Terri and Staci
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This is very late, I heard about Erik's passing just today. I'm in the category from Fermilab where Erik's hearty welcome (later in his career than the others below), expertise, and quality advice was transformative to me as someone with immediate tasks to complete and overall as a scientist. Even though we overlapped for only a short time. I appreciate the memories from friends and family here, a side of Erik that is as wonderful as it is not a surprise. Condolences and best wishes to you and others who have been fortunate to know Erik over the years.
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Erik and I were part of a large group of graduate students at Fermilab on E665 (Muon DIS) in 1985+. I think he was the first of the group to get a PhD by studying pi0s in the electromagnetic calorimeter. He frequently entered Fermilab through "unofficial" entrances on his motorcycle and I remember several instances of visits to our office room by Fermilab security requesting to chat with Erik! Since then, I would see him frequently when I visited Fermilab and he was always cheerful and willing to talk with me. He was always involved in interesting physics experiments and always wanted to know what I was doing. I will miss seeing him and will always remember him as one of my favorite colleagues.
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I'm so sorry to hear that Erik has passed. I will miss him - he always had time to talk to me when I saw him at Fermilab. He was a great physicist and even better person.
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In the few years that we were house mates, I learned so much from Erik. He will be missed. Love and condolences to Karen and the family.
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I went to high school with him; we lost touch after. He was one of the kindest, funniest smartest people I know. I always thought he would make a remarkable contribution to this world. I’m incredibly sorry for your family’s loss
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Kaja and I were so lucky to have had many opportunities to spend time with Erik through our friendship with Melody! We have lovely memories of him looking at old bookshops in Champaign and listening to his beautiful speech at Melody's wedding. Erik's adventurous and generous nature was remarkable, and live on in his two great kids. Sending you lots of love Melody, Ashe, and Karen.
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Dear Karen and Family, Fred and I are so sorry to hear about Erik's passing. You provided such love and care for him. I'm glad I got to see him a few weeks ago and will remember him dancing out the door! I will treasure the beautiful book he gave me too. Love to you, Kathy
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Erik and I connected over his passion for books. We joined together to share a sales booth at Chicago's Printers Row Book Fair for two years in a row-- one of those years was during a huge storm with blowing rain. Oh, our beloved books!! I also sponsored him to join the Caxton Club in Chicago, although his knowledge of books and book construction far exceeded mine. He generously gave Roger and me a lengthy tour of many areas of Fermilab. On another occasion, he showed us his book collection inside his home. His warmth and generosity in sharing himself and his knowledge of physics and books will be warmly remembered.
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Erik welcomed me to Fermilab, making me feel like a part of the team on my first day. He was a wonderful person to be around for the many years we worked together, and I'll always remember him as the surprisingly cool physicist.
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