Dr. Mandelbrot was my neighbor during my childhood and I recall meeting him a few times in front of his house, puffy hair doing its own thing, while he mowed his lawn the old-fashioned way: a push reel lawn mower. The guru of fractals (and many other things) was quite human—just a neighbor—but, like so many folks in my overachieving town, had the aura of a kind of genius even someone unfamiliar with his work could recognize.
We’ll miss you, Benny.
