Like everyone else, I'm thunderstruck at the sudden passing of Michael Kiskis, whom I regarded as a friend of the first magnitude. I always looked forward to spending time with him at Mark Twain gatherings and rarely, if ever, missed the opportunity to do so. Although very much a joker, he was also a deeply sincere person. He seemed in both of those ways to share a deep kinship (that he was well aware of) with Mark Twain himself. John Bird mentioned Michael's important (though mostly behind-the-scenes) role in launching The Mark Twain Annual. Michael also took some pride in having been one of the founders of the Mark Twain Circle--at the storied first gathering at MLA 1986. As for his teaching, I have no doubt that it revolved around a principle that he articulated in his essay "'When I read this book as a child ... the ugliness was pushed aside': Adult Students Read and Respond to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn": "all worthwhile critical work begins with personal interest and provocative ideas." He took a personal interest in Mark Twain, in his students, and in his friends--who apparently included everyone with a serious interest in Mark Twain, or in literature in general. Michael loved Mark Twain because Twain was a real human being, and we loved Michael for the same reason. --Jim Leonard