I took as many of Dr. Bledsoe’s classes as I could when I was a student at Pitt, and wish I could have taken many more. His passion for the material, for teaching, and for helping his students was always evident. As a bird lover myself, I tried to absorb every bit of bird knowledge I could from him, but he was and endless well of information and enthusiasm for the natural world. I am now a science teacher myself, and I have always thought of him as one of my main inspirations. He had an entertaining example ready to illuminate any possible concept and he wanted to remove barriers between himself and his students—he preferred to go by “Tony” and encouraged us to call his personal number with questions if we ever needed to. Recently I had been thinking of getting in touch with him to thank him again, and I regret that I did not do so in time. My sincere condolences to his family. He will be missed but fondly remembered.