Remembering a remarkable member of the Michigan Community, Maj. Dr. Ian Fishback

The previous time Michigan beat Ohio State was the Fall semester of 2011.  That was when I was fortunate enough to become friends with a really remarkable guy, Dr. Ian Fishback.  He wasn't a doctor yet, but he was still plenty remarkable.  The day before the game this year, I found out Ian died under terrible and tragic circumstances.  I had never heard about his problems, because I moved away before they became manifest and when he was hard to contact I figured he was just busy.   Bad assumption.   See obituaries here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/us/ian-fishback-dead.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2021/11/24/ian-fishback-army-dead/
https://www.beaulieufuneralhome.com/obituary/major-ian-fishback-phd

Here is a memorial from one of his students, which I include because he was a war hero but I and many at Michigan knew him as a scholar and a teacher (hence Dr. Fishback rather than Maj. Fishback for me):  https://mwi.usma.edu/the-lessons-ian-fishback-taught-us/


Anyway, I thought I should post his obituary information here because he was an instructor and graduate student at Michigan for a number years.  He also tutored a number of athletes-- I got to know him because he was tutoring some athletes in a class I was teaching.  One of them, Taylor Lewan, talked to Hoke and hooked him and his daughter (I believe) up with field passes for some game that semester (I think was part of a Veteran's Day thing).  Ian loved football and thought it was awesome.  He would have loved to see the game this weekend.  God, would he have loved it.  The Michigan community really lost someone special.

I have a lot of thoughts on this situation, but I'll just remind folks to try to keep in contact with people, even if they seem busy.   Go Blue