RIP Dwight Conquergood

Just found out, while surfing bios of old college professors, that one of the best human beings I've ever known passed away a couple months ago. God, what an incredible loss. Here's the first line from one of his obituaries:

"Northwestern University Professor Dwight Conquergood took his desire to understand the disenfranchised to a Thai refugee camp, a dangerous Chicago neighborhood and vigils outside scheduled Death Row executions."

That barely begins to touch on what a beautiful person Dwight was. I was blessed to have had him as my faculty advisor. When I think of people who embody what is good, people whom I strive to be more like, Dwight is one of the three that immediately come to mind. My grandfather is another. One of my classmates with whom I moved to Seattle to start a theater company is the third. It's hard to believe that one of them is gone now.

More about Dwight from Chicago Tribune staff writer Tom Rybarczyk and from The Daily Northwestern.

Obituaries can barely begin to express what kind of a man this professor who remembered your name after meeting you only in passing was. He touched lives in the Gaza Strip, in Laos, in Thailand, in inner-city Chicago, at Northwestern University, and on Death Row. And those are just the obvious places.

Rest in peace, Dwight. We hadn't talked in years, but I miss you very, very much.