Farewell, Josh

I don't even know how to begin. Today I learned that one of my favorite professors from Business School passed away last month. Nothing I can say here would do justice to what a great man he was, or how strong he must have been to keep teaching through all of his (apparently ineffective) treatments, and even get to tenure at UMD a few years ago.

Josh Newberg suffered from treatment-resistant depression. None of his students ever knew this about him, however, because he always showed amazing enthusiasm and a willingness to help us learn - I think he'd have taught us everything in his packed brain if he could have!

"Law and Technology Policy" was my favorite class of my second year -- and as far as I know, this was the last time the class was taught (at least by Josh). We talked about everything from the creative commons to the Microsoft anti-trust suit to Napster. I had to give a presentation on Napster and how it violated copyright laws. I wrote a term paper on the concept of "cyber-squatting." Being slightly more of a techie than Josh, I got to explain the concepts of Internet2 and supercomputing to the class. Josh was very good at making everyone feel included, and debating every viewpoint on any topic -- which I now know was one of his specialties. I remember learning that, the year after I graduated, he served as the advisor on one of the Global Business trips to Argentina. He was so excited, and clearly enjoyed the experience, and I was sorry to have missed making the trip with him.

In addition to his being a great teacher, I am not ashamed to say I had a huge crush on Josh. He was, after all, a handsome Jewish lawyer, and a good Democrat... I will never forget the day, a year or so after I got my MBA, I was having lunch with Dr. Sundwall and he told me he had a Jewish young man for me to meet -- it turned out Josh was one of his "running buddies." What a small world, we exclaimed, and I was honored that Dr. D. thought me a good match for Josh (even though he already had a girlfriend!)


I know I will think of Josh whenever I read about the creative commons, the big bad bully Microsoft, and the shifting sands of MP3s and copyright infringement. I hope he's in a happier place now, and has found someone to debate the issues with to his heart's content.

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