HN user
Well said-- "giving his full attention to you." I knew I left out an important point in my comment about meeting Mr. Pohl, and that covers it. I was a 20 yr old who knew close to nothing & had delusions of being a great SF writer one day, but Mr. Pohl treated me as if I were completely sane. He was definitely one of a kind.As you said, a complete gentleman, in the very best meaning of the word.
Besides being one of the truly great writers of the 20th century, Mr. Pohl was a kind man, and just a really great guy. I got to spend a day with him way back when-- I think it was in 1980 or '81. He had been invited to be a guest at a small university in Missouri and I showed up because I loved his stuff. It became apparent that most of the people at his lecture were non-SF types who were only in attendance because their teachers forced them. (Remember, this was 1980-- SF was not widely popular.) After the lecture, the professor who had invited Mr. Pohl was desperate to provide some "SF fellowship" for his guest and asked me to be accompany them to a faculty-&-community-leader lunch. It was hilarious-- no one at the table knew who he was. And then-- I was invited to have dinner with the prof and Mr. Pohl that evening, just the 3 of us. It was one of a handful of outstanding moments in my life-- we talked about SF, religion (he said that he had a close friend that was a Jesuit priest with whom he discussed religion from time to time), politics, space exploration-- it was amazing. Rest in Peace, sir.