Your awe-inspiring work
found me intimidated
As did the clever theories
you had created

But gregarious and relaxed as you are
It was a feeling one could only maintain from afar

Wearing open toed sandals and shorts from Bermuda
You could always be found
In your office at Cordura

Ever at home
in a unification matrix
Always on the lookout for that well motivated fix
(that also predicts)
you always convey insight and rigor in the right mix.

We’ve shared many a birthday,
the occasional frat house,
a love for Grammar from the Bay Area
And a cherished good grouse.

You’re a great man, Ivan,
A maven, a shaman, and a heaven-sent spokesman
I’m no poet and now we all know it, but
To one who holds you most dear,
a soppy poem seemed somehow appropriate.