Farewell Arren, In the first few months of working with Arren I was really grateful for being able to work on so many amazing projects, but I was also irritated, because I didn’t share most people’s strong sympathy for him. At some point I asked a good friend from the same group why everybody liked him so much, to which he couldn’t give me a satisfying answer. To me Arren seemed grumpy, was making mean or even quite insulting statements about me and others or took extreme positions in various debates on certain global affairs. So what was going on? How was everybody so cheerful around him? I didn’t get it at first, as I did with most things him and me talked about in the beginning. He seemed to have his own gravity field, pulling people towards him, bringing together the most fun, creative and productive group I have ever seen. Then slowly after a while, I started to see what he was doing. When he was insulting somebody it was his silly way of sharing affection. When he started saying controversial things on matters, which I had formulated an opinion on, he forced me to question my standpoint and rethink specific issues. And once I realized that his grumpy self was merely a hard outer (big bellied) shell that he put up to distract from the fact, that he was actually the most supportive and encouraging person I have ever met, I really started loving his crazy bearded diva self. Not to be gay or anything, but there was a reason that I repurposed a cheesy line from a marvel movie to express what he meant to us: “You may not be our father Arren, but you sure are our daddy.” The lengths he went to, to make sure a student would be able to get an extension, fix a big mistake of us by pulling the necessary levers or by forcing us to accomplish something because he knew we had it in us, even while fulfilling all his other duties was unreal. In the end I considered him not only a brilliant scientist and awesome supervisor but simply my friend, and I am sure he did as well. Although I disliked the newly imposed biweekly meetings and did not have great results most of the time, we were always able to connect on a personal level, trade stupid jokes or discuss some fantasy series we had both been following. The last days before his death I only ever remembered him smiling when I closed the door after a chat with him. Arren changed my life. Before him many subjects I touched on in university felt rarely cool and exciting. His lab and his way of doing science kindled a flame of curiosity in me, which I did not possess before. I was once asked where I see myself in 5 years and I answered that I still want to be working on crazy and creative projects that I find fascinating. However, what I really meant was that I want to be working with Arren. I would have followed him anywhere and now that he is gone, so much seems lost. Nevertheless, while I felt like I couldn’t continue by myself, in reality something in me was changed by him. I do know now what I have to do next and I will work towards making my vision of where I want to be in 5 years come true, even if it will be without him. His spirit and his way of doing things was once a guiding light for many others and me. Now I still carry a small part of that with me. And although I know that nobody will be able to replace him for me, I still feel like I have him watching over me and will do everything in my power to make some of the dreams he shared with me become reality. Although Arren did not have any children of his own and although his body was not invulnerable to disease and death, his ideas will live on indefinitely and certain strains have started growing now that will never cease to exist. As his E. coli cells are alive and continuing to multiply via his metabolic pathways, the seeds he planted will continue to develop and may someday show us the beauty of his vision. As long as there is formate of course. You can rest now Arren Bar-Even, we will take it from here. Your loyal admirer, kid and friend, Beau