Comment by anarticle

Send a note. The director of my old lab was essentially a proxy father for me for nearly 10 years, and inspired me to take my life and career more seriously, which I did. Work was not the only thing, but life. I took up running because I looked up to him in my 20s, I remember seeing him and thinking "wow, this guy is in his mid 40s and looks great!" Tell them. His wife told me in secret that it made him so happy he cried.