Memory submitted by Ferrell Varner

When did you meet Mickey?
1963

Where did you meet him?
Med School

Memory of Mickey
Mickey and I were in the same medical school class. When I met him it was obvious at first encounter that he was someone that I wanted to know well. He was funny, very bright, energetic and original. He was curious about everything and looked at the world differently. We studied together a lot, and he “got” the concepts quickly and then played with them while I struggled to memorize them. His humor came through in all of this. He was “cool” is the best sense of the word.

After medical school we intermittently wrote letters then emails. He went on to Infectious Disease then Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. I went into Emergency Medicine and then decided to go to art school in San Francisco. He wrote me and said that we both seemed to be looking for the same thing, our own form of enlightenment. I was flattered. While in medical school I had organized an evening of painting with wine. He never painted that I know of, but his contribution was the most original and complete of the group.

We lost touch for several years, and he started his blog. I came on late, but closely followed his efforts to expose the problems around big pharma, bad research, greed and intellectual dishonesty. He has been making his part of the world better for years, and doing it clearly without the excessive rhetoric that confuses most discussions.

We will miss his insight, energy, compassion and humor