We're dedicating this issue's Freethought Forum to the memory of Dr. Gordon Stein. His work in defending freethought, unbelief, and rationality is monumental. Though his health was precarious in recent months, his death was unexpected, and a large amount of work, with no doubt a huge backlog, has come to an abrupt halt.

Not long ago he accepted a cut in pay to change jobs and become Director of the Center for Inquiry Libraries at Amherst, N.Y., an activity of the Council for Secular Humanism. Prior to this, he was Professor of Philosophy at a small college in Cranston, Rhode Island. He will no doubt be missed sorely in Amherst. We will miss him at Truth Seeker, mainly for his passionate criticism. He took us, our history, and freethought very seriously.

His absence will be most sorely felt at The American Rationalist, of which he was the editor. In that publication, he usually wrote an article or two, several book reviews, and many smaller items. His wide ranging scholarship and deep knowledge of the history of freethought were evident in his writings there.

His magnum opus was his two volume The Encyclopedia of Unbelief published in 1985 by Prometheus Books. Several of us on the Truth Seeker staff have used it extensively in researching various articles and project.

We were happy to host him on two occasions when he came to San Diego to lecture. At the second event, he lectured on freethinkers in history, mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. His collection of photographs, shown at that lecture, was astounding. It was a great pleasure to attend the lecture and to talk with him briefly afterwards. He showed an interest in the future of freethought, as well as its past.

Gordon Stein died too soon. There's too much work to do. Who can take up the slack? Can you? If you just crack the books and get some of the good stuff into your own brain, it will help.

Freethinkers now have another pair of shoulders on which to stand.