I am heartbroken by the “news”:https://themonkeycage.org/2011/03/george_rabinowitz.html that George Rabinowitz has passed. George was not only a first rate scholar but also one of the nicest people I have ever met. As for John, George helped me tremendously as a young student. My undergraduate adviser in the Netherlands thought it would be a good idea that I spend a semester at UNC Chapel Hill. George, then already a famous full professor, was my point of contact although I had never met him. He picked me up from the airport, took me to a nice dinner, and let me stay in his house for over a week until I had found a place of my own. Even more impressively: this was on the night of a UNC-Duke game!
During the semester, he helped me immensely with my research. As a scholar, George was not only the developer of directional theory (with his wife Stuart McDonald) but he was also on the forefront of applying measurement and scaling theories from psychometrics to political science problems. Such usages are common now but not when George was bringing them in. We also became friends and I was happy that when he visited the Netherlands I was able to show him around a little bit. I haven’t seen George much in recent years except for an occasional quick meet and greet at APSA. My thoughts are with Stuart and their sons.