David C. Baldus

Anyone who has studied the death penalty, follows the case law and research, has run across the work of David C. Baldus. My comprehensive exercise (comps), basically a senior thesis, in college was on the death penalty. Professor Baldus' work factored heavily into my paper.

I never met the man, never even came close. (If only I'd chosen Iowa instead of Wisconsin, but my heart was in Madison despite Professor Baldus.) But his work definitely affected me, inspired me. I couldn't let his passing go without comment.

In this time of sadness, I hope his family finds comfort in the fact that he did lots of good work on an issue he was passionate about. May we all be so lucky.