516 Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2006), Volume 126 He recognized the need for more leadership at the teaching hospitals proximal to Beth Israel and Harvard Medical School and developed the program at the Boston Children’s Hospital, where he was made chief of the Division of Dermatology at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center and dermatologist at the Boston Hospital for Women. When Irwin announced he was leaving Harvard, I was in disbelief. Why would he give up such a successful position, by then in a rapidly growing prestigious program? We both had looked at other job offers, but in my case mostly as an ego trip. These past two years before and since his death I have thought a lot more about what the Boston experience was about and how it molded him. The years at Harvard were like basic training, and Irwin had strong role models in academia in and outside of dermatology at Beth Israel and Harvard Medical School. He was ambitious, but in a very special way. He was confident about himself and his ideas of where dermatology and skin research should move. He felt he could put ideas into action by attaining leadership positions in the organizations that established or influenced policy in the clinical and research areas, such as the Society for Investigative Dermatology, the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Dermatological Association, and the National Institutes of Health. Irwin eventually assumed leadership positions in the Society for Investigative Dermatology and was editor of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. He had the people skills, which are critical for such an undertaking, but I think he felt he needed the platform of chairmanship at a strong university to carry out his ideas. With Tom Fitzpatrick firmly in place at Harvard, moving to another institution was a necessity. Irwin already had leadership experience and was known and respected in the scientific community, and taking over a program would not be unduly challenging to someone with his ability, energy, and healthy self-esteem. Furthermore, his personal life with his children and his wife Irene was rock solid. When I look at pictures of Irwin from our medical school years at Harvard and New York University, I see the same man but with different ambitions and academic research accomplishments. The outpouring of emotion at his passing was not merely for the friend whom we loved and who left us too soon but was also an expression of gratitude for the man who contributed so much to the growth of dermatology as a clinical specialty and science.