Emily Yates-Doerr

This picture was taken from Tom's house in Toro, in February 2012. A few months earlier I had graduated from NYU, and I was now a new postdoc living in Amsterdam with a winter-newborn who didn't sleep. Tom arranged for me, my partner Andrew, and 11-week old Orion to stay in his empty home before my maternity leave ended. It had been snowing hard in Amsterdam for dark, cold days and Toro was a warm and peaceful oasis. In Tom's characteristic way, he wrote out pages of detailed instructions that included an extensive history of the region and recommendations for where to get a delicious seasonal meal (lechazo de oveja churro, a dish of spring lamb so young it has only been fed its mother's milk). This dish became the basis of an article I wrote, which remains one of my most cited articles to date. The visit to Toro was a crucial escape during a very hard time (just look at how completely exhausted we were!), and one of the tiniest of ways I'm in Tom's debt. His care and attention to small details -- that were actually anything but small -- have shaped my life.