Ron Allen

I had known Ron for many years because of my familiarity with his research, but it was only after we began working together that we became friends. Ron was anxious to continue the work which he had started in Sweden. In this work he used very deep integrations to detect faint OH from the Milky Way, and that led him to speculate that thermal OH emission might be used to trace the molecular component in the Galactic regions where CO emission was weak or absent. At a conference in New Mexico in 2011 we discussed the feasibility of using the GBT to continue this study and to extend the observations to nearby spiral galaxies. Thus began a quest that spanned nearly a decade and which continues today through the efforts of Ron's student Michael Busch. What impressed me about Ron's approach was his insistence on scientific rigor, whether it concerned the instrumentally induced systematics or the interpretation of the observations themselves. But I also came to appreciate the man himself. We had many meals together at the cafeteria, and occasionally ventured over to restaurants in the next valley. We waked the site roads many times, and argued amicably in the coffee room. Ron was kind and generous, and was always ready with an amusing story or with some insight about a news item which he had just read in the Times. I will forever cherish these moments.