The arts and sciences of Lawrence Stark

Larry Stark will be long remembered in the scientific community for his pioneering work in Bioengineering. From his early work applying control theory to physiological motor systems to his seminal development of the scanpath, his ideas have been marked by innovation and imagination. His work in science is well documented in over 300 scientific papers now being collected at the library of the University of Illinois at Chicago. But to those of us fortunate enough to have known Larry on a personal level, he was much more than a scientist. His extraordinary range of interests, the depth and breadth of his knowledge, and his passion for living were inescapable and infectious. The strength of his passions drew us inevitably into his world, and once there, we were irreversibly changed. It is impossible to capture in this short paper even a tiny slice of what Larry was. His scientific writings speak for themselves but here we, his former students and friends, can share some of the things we experienced or learned from this remarkable human being. His greatest passion was for people: his friends, colleagues, students, and especially his family.Anyone who spent time with Larry would quickly become intrigued, even a little disoriented, by his engaging, multi-faceted, and complex personality. Because he was interested in everything and especially in people, a first encounter with Larry included a gentle probing about origin, culture, and profession, but always in a non-inquisitorial way, with warmness and charm, and seduction when needed. This intense interest in people enabled Larry to make and keep many friends spread over most of the globe. With his extensive network, he could travel the world for months staying only with friends. In his travels, he rarely stayed at hotels, partly because he disliked hotels, but mostly because he enjoyed the companionship of his friends and the celebrations, reunions, and parties that often accompanied a visit from Larry, Photo 1. Larry had the ability to engage an audience not only through his scientific knowledge, but also through his incomparable capacity to understand and synthesize complex theory, his culture ‘generale,’ and his always a propos humor. This ability to engage extended to his colleagues’ wives and children. For many of his European colleagues’ young children he was considered the beloved ‘Uncle from America,’ a status which he loved and