David was a partner at McKinsey when I transferred to the west coast. Though I was never staffed on David’s projects, my unfiltered glimpses on who he was impressed me greatly. I will share one below: I was working with a team in a small conference room in the middle of the Silicon Valley Office. The room was somewhat messy with three associates and several easels overflowing with charts, graphs, moons, trees and other attempts at organization. David walked by with a soda, paused for a moment and stepped inside. “The stuff you have on the board looks really interesting,” he said. “Do you mind explaining it to me?” David was not formally involved with our project, nor with our client. He sat and listened while we explained our attempts to solve a client problem. He never gave the team direction, but asked a set of thoughtful questions. While that was the first time I realized how smart David was, it was his patience and enthusiasm for the problem that struck me most. He had no apparent agenda, and did not seem likely to get much direct benefit from our success. And yet, he probably stayed with us for 30 minutes and helped us move forward. My (limited) subsequent interactions were all similar. I was impressed by the enthusiasm he had for ideas, and the patience & respect he exhibited in helping others develop their own. I was sad to hear he has passed away – so sad for his family, and sad for the people that could benefit from his enthusiastic patience.