Letter from Bill Peters

Dear Jack,

I write to wish you a Happy Birthday and to share some thanks, memories and Scripture verses I hope will encourage you, Carolyn, Courtenay, Jonathan and Megan. Rosie and I are praying for God’s rich and mighty blessings upon each of you as He guides you through this difficult time.

Jack, the letters from your friends and colleagues posted on the Howard Family Update remind us that your grace, kindness and positive spirit, as well as your extraordinary contributions to research, mentoring, teaching and professional service, have made important lasting differences in the hearts and lives of people literally world-wide. I am fortunate indeed to be one of these people. It will soon be 34 years since I first visited you in your office in Building 12, seeking (arguably begging) for an “energy-related” position that would bring me back to MIT from Yale. I know at times I was oblivious to the many demands on your schedule. Yet you gave generously of your time, sharing your ideas on soot formation and explaining Don Anthony’s doctoral work. Although you led that research, you listened patiently and with genuine curiosity to my suggestion of a possible alternative interpretation for some of Don’s pressure effects data.

Jack, I cannot adequately express my thanks to you for bringing me into the MIT fuels and energy community. Although I had no training in fuels, you hired me just a few months after our first meeting, to assist you in developing new research programs in coal, for what was then the embryonic Energy Lab – a Lab you had strongly encouraged MIT to start. I had no publications and it clearly would have been perfectly reasonable for you to have selected another candidate. Instead you asked if I had some relevant unpublished material - which I did and gave to you. This shows your remarkable ability to see things in a positive light despite evidence of potentially serious negatives. In my case your saw potential, even though the glass was 98% empty. Because you became my boss, mentor, colleague and friend, that potential bore fruit.

Jack you have taught me to speak carefully and write clearly (works transparently still in progress). You are the gold standard in how to achieve professional excellence while always being a true gentleman. You are wise and fair minded, a man of strength, honor and integrity, steadfastly considerate of others. You understand human frailties and are a gifted encourager. After I began working for you, we were speaking one day in your office when your phone rang. You told the caller you would call back because you were “--in a meeting with a colleague.” I was astonished, but deeply honored and affirmed that you viewed me as a colleague rather than the very junior newcomer I saw myself as. My astonishment has grown with time as I have observed first hand your amazing ability to dissolve complexity and make meaningful headway on difficult problems, technical and non-technical. I know that when I work with you Jack, I am with someone truly special.

I deeply appreciate how you have mentored me in research. Very early in my career you invited me to be a co-author on Phil Lewellen’s screen heater study of cellulose pyrolysis kinetics for the 16th Symposium. This was my first fuels paper and our first paper together. I still recall your feedback when I showed you a draft manuscript: “Well Bill, it’s not bad - but there are opportunities for improvement.”!!! Again this was you Jack, kindly helping me to improve my writing. We have written many publications together since then, but I will always remember the door you opened to me in Lewellen, Peters and Howard.

At your 2002 “retirement” dinner I alluded to an acknowledgement Pablo Debenedetti wrote in his 1995 book Metastable Liquids Concepts and Principles. The exact quote is: “My father taught me the importance of working hard, having clear goals, and thinking rationally. It is a lesson that guides me to this day.” Jack, in this sense you have been a father to me, not only because you have taught me the importance of these very same qualities, but because of how you have taught me, by working together one-on-one and by bringing me into the “home” of your research group. There you extended me the privileges of learning from, and collaborating with you in research, in developing new research initiatives, and in supervising students and post docs.

I hope the following assurances of God’s love and faithfulness will encourage you:

“Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.” Psalm 119: 76.

“For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’” Isaiah 41: 13.

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 6, 7.

“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3: 3.

Jack, John 14 is one of my favorite Bible chapters. In verse 27 The Lord Jesus says:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Jack, thank you for all of you have done for me professionally and personally for the past third of a century. I know you have always been there to provide fair and wise counsel. If Rosie or I can do anything at all to assist you, Carolyn, Courtenay, Jonathan and Megan, please let us know.

God bless you,

Bill