On April 15, 1976, a young physician wrote to me from England to inquire about the possibility of spending a year in the new Department of Human Genetics I had established at the Medical College of Virginia. We had no funding for postdoctoral positions at that time, but Robin Winter had trained at the Galton Laboratory, and was highly recommend by Gerald Corney and Harry Harris whom I both knew well, so we cobbled together support for a fellowship from research funds and welcomed him to join the department in Richmond. After seemingly interminable delays over his passport, Robin arrived with his wife Joan in June of 1977. He quickly became a favourite in the department and impressed me most by his insatiable desire to learn everything that was known about all aspects of human genetics, even though his bent was clearly towards clinical genetics. During his 18 months in the department, Robin made many friends and acquaintances—Fred Bieber, Cynthia Morton, Wendy Golden, Wendy Segreti, Lindon Eaves, Victor McKusick—some of whom remained close professional colleagues and collaborators throughout …