A brief account on the impact of Walter Pitman in my life
Gonzalo Yáñez
Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, United Nations
Introduction
I did my Ph.D. at Lamont since 1989-1995, Walter was my advisor, probably his last graduated student. Others, for sure, can talk about Walter’s scientific achievements with more proximity and authority than me. My intention with this note is to express how a remarkable person like Walter could touch an influence a person for life, with just simple but profound acts.
A simple personal history
This a transcript of a letter that I sent to Walter’s daughter, Amanda after his death.
I’m sad but also I feel so fortunate to have had a chance to meet such a remarkable and unique person keeping a deep friendship and mutual respect and affect for more than 30 years. Including an active interaction during the last couple of years of his life in which I had a full chance to express Walter all my feelings and appreciation to him.
Allow me to express in the next few life examples on why I feel fully gratify to have the chance to cross my life with him. I’m not going to say nothing about his great scientific achievements, others much more qualified than me are already said so, and I’m sure that you are fully aware and proud of that.
I would like to talk about the modest and unselfish man that I knew. I met him as a graduate student at Lamont during mid 80’s. He was designed as my adviser, and he did so with great care, not only with the formal issues of the academic work, but more importantly with my family as a whole (at that time I was among the few graduate students with kids, the only one with two of them). Life wasn’t easy with two little kids in Manhattan at that time, but he managed to help and support us many times, including the wonderful Thanks Given parties. My ex-wife Pia and my two children, appreciate him a lot, and visit him in NY to express their love to two times in recent years. But Walter devotion to many people around him was much more widespread than my family, close friends of that times, the family of my class mate Nevio Zitellini can probably express the same feelings (we talked about that some days ago with Nevio).
Later on, and for work obligations, I had to return to Chile without completing my Ph.D studies, Walter was displaced with my decision to return, but I ensure to him that I would continue working in my thesis project. Things were not that simple while returning to Chile, including a marriage crisis, so I put aside my Ph.D. project for almost a year. All this situation gave me a serious depression, and I had almost decided to quit from the Ph.D. program at Columbia. Fortunately for my life Walter show up again in the right moment. He sent me a FAX expressing with strength his regret and deep disappointment with my behavior, he was tough but certainly shake me. Then he offer all his help to facilitate the things, so I got permission from my job and I move to NY for 3 months to finish my work. Again Walter gave all his emotional and economical support (I stayed with him during these 3 months). Finally I was able to defend the thesis, but in order to do that the University charged me a totally unexpected and unfordable amount of money. Walter again, without putting any condition payed that bill (later on I payback, my parents brought the money personally, they had a lovely dinner with Walter, my mother remembered that dinner with much pride for many years!!).
I could tell you many other histories to illustrate how deeply Walter influenced my life, but rather I finish this lines expressing that now, and for many years, in my work as a professor at the university, I’m trying to apply the lessons that I learned with Walter as a row model, perhaps my humble tribute to him.
Some days ago when I told my children that Walter passed away, they were very sorry and asked me about my feelings about him, I’ve just answered “he was like a second father for me.”
Epilogue
Since 2017 I had the opportunity to return to NY, thanks to a part time job (half a year) at United Nations. This provides to me the opportunity to visit Walter regularly, first at his apartment at Claremont Ave,, NY and later on at the Hebrew Home where he spent the last two years. We enjoy the time together in his apartment of Claremont, remember old times, in particular Lamont’s life and the wonderful Thanks Given celebrations where Walter was always a fantastic host, gathering people from all over the world. In one of these visits we have a lunch together with John Labrecque, his former student (and my second thesis adviser) (Figure 1). Unfortunately, Walter’s condition deteriorated during 2018, right after this visit so the family took the decision to move him to the Hebrew Home, I didn’t notice, when it happened, so in my next trip to NY I went to his apartment at Claremont, but the doorman told me that he left the apartment, and he add, “if you see him please say hello, he is a great man”.
Later on, I visited him a couple of times in the Hebrew Home, he was using a wheel chair, so we have the chance to go out of the building, enjoying the nice view of the Hudson River and the Palisades sill in the other side. He was very lucid in terms of past events, and once he was doing some drawings representing the RV VEMA (Figure 2), then I challenge him, “can you draw the Eltanin 19 profile?”, “sure I can”, he answer, and the result is showing in Figure 2, including a speech on the meaning of each anomaly peak. In my last visit during the summer of 2019, he was specially lucid, and we enjoyed a nice conversation. At the end of the chat he ask me about John Labrecque, “have you seen him lately?” , and I answer that yes, “we see each other quite often, once a year”. He look at me with his typical inquisitive but kind face, and he said: “well, in my home town we would never consider that once a year means quite often”, and then he laughed. Taking note, and learning from him until the last time!!.
Many thanks Walter, you really touch me.
May 2020, Santiago-Chile
