When I first interviewed Chuck Merbitz, he informed me that he had cancer, and that his case was terminal. You wouldn’t know that by listing to the conversation though.

One of the things that struck me about that episode was just how positive Chuck was. The day after he passed away, I re-listened to the interview, and found so many nuggets of wise advice that I had forgotten about. I suppose the main takeaway to this episode was the importance of working well with people outside of our field.

So with that in mind, I urge you to give this episode another listen. Even if you’re not interested in precision teaching or starting a behavior analysis program at a university, there are lessons a-plenty to be found, particularly towards the end of the conversation.

At some point, we may do an episode discussing his contributions to the field, but for now, let’s take a moment to hear his story again.

Lastly, I have been in contact with his family, and they have provided me a list of causes that were important to Chuck. If you’d like to make a contribution in his honor, here are the relevant links:

• Union of Concerned Scientists (very active on climate change)
• American Civil Liberties Union (fighting for human rights in the courts)
• Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)
• Move to Amend (to end corruption and secrecy in campaign financing)