It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my dear friend, mentor and colleague of 41 years, Michael J. Camasso. His profound influence on my life and career is something I feel honored to carry forward, yet the absence of his guidance and friendship leaves a void that words can scarcely convey.

From the day I started as his assistant in 1983, Michael not only encouraged me professionally but also became my partner in a lifelong pursuit of learning, discovery and collaboration. Together, we built ideas, projects and memories across continents and created a professional and personal bond that I will forever cherish.

Michael had degrees in agricultural economics as well as social work, a rare combination that introduced many innovative ideas into his writings. His contributions to the public- and child-welfare fields were numerous, as were his use of econometrics in the study of problems in these fields. His work in the last two decades with me focused on education, particularly on helping disadvantaged students of color, and his contributions here were just as noteworthy. We co-founded a program called Nurture thru Nature (NtN) that was designed to inspire scientific curiosity in young minds. We designed the program as a randomized experiment and, with carefully collected data over a 10-year period, showed that the program indeed delivered on its promise.  

Our relationship transcended work — we were each other’s best friend, and we shared all things silly as well as serious. Michael taught me all about birds, plants and flowers; helped me landscape the front and backyards of my husband’s and my new house; and gave me seedlings that are now big bushes. Everywhere I turn, I see him and feel the profound loss.

Our travels to Europe, Africa and Asia — sometimes for work and other times for fun with our respective spouses — were adventures, both good and bad. Neither of us really ever acted our age; we were childlike in our assessment of our environment, whether at an airport or on local transportation or at restaurants, sometimes to the embarrassment of our spouses. Notwithstanding this, the four us have enjoyed many trips abroad building a lot of good memories. Our international colleagues and friends in Spain, Italy, Germany and India enjoyed a truly good natured personal relationship and research collaborations with the two of us. They were always up for a visit from Michael and me, always considering it a terrific detour from their routine.  

Our local travels involved at least two birdwatching trips to South Jersey each year. In typical Michael fashion, we carefully tracked and documented the year-to-year count and movement of specific species (e.g., red-headed woodpeckers and summer and scarlet tanagers). We saw a bobcat two years ago, the highlight of our trip, and a few years prior we tried to save an injured summer tanager that ended up dying in my hands. One year, a summer tanager landed on Michael’s red-ballcapped head when we were so focused on looking for it elsewhere! We would talk about our birding experiences ad nauseam, much to the boredom of our spouses if they happened to be around. My husband always wondered how two people could hash and rehash these topics tirelessly in person and then continue over the phone for hours afterward! 

I met Michael when I was barely 22 years old — he really shaped me in his own image, as one would his child. I did not have a career path in mind at that time, having just gotten married and moved to the U.S. from India. Both of us were hired to work on the same project at Rutgers, he as the project director and I as the project secretary. He quickly trained me to become a research assistant, and through his continuous mentoring and generosity of opportunities, I grew to be an “excellent” (his word) researcher, earning promotions at work along the way. In addition to an undergraduate degree in economics from II was also able to complete a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in statistics with his encouragement and work accommodations. I idolized him, and he saw the best in me. He decided, and then convinced me, that I should go to Princeton to study with my other mentor at the time, Dr. Sara McLanahan, and get my Ph.D. He actually hand-delivered my application package to Nassau Hall at Princeton, and only after I had been admitted would he confess to me how discouraged he felt seeing the floor-to-ceiling pile of thousands of applications. He acted like a proud papa and would tell anyone who would listen how I had gotten into Princeton and breezed through the program in two and a half years. 

In 1999 I became a faculty member at Rutgers, where we would continue to work until his passing this summer. We collaborated on many interesting projects along the way, including a few books and numerous journal articles. He continued to mentor me during my early career and would not rest until we became equal in rank. No one could ask for a better or more generous and selfless mentor! Our two most recent projects — a study of youth unemployment in Europe and the U.S. and our STEM education project, NtN — certainly filled us with the usual adventures abroad and local challenges, but neither of us would have traded these for a quiet academic existence. 

Michael had a great sense of humor and an endless appetite for silliness and puns. I would always marvel at how a person of his brain caliber could simultaneously appreciate the writings of Proust, Hegel or Kafka and enjoy movies like The Big Lebowski or shows like Faulty Towers and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He played this game of ‘do you have a kid in your class whose name is “Eileen Totheleft” or “Cary Meback” etc., with my daughter Meera until the very end. He would give her fake awards as Christmas presents (ones that could pass for the real thing, a plaque made with real wood and a gold frame). We vehemently disagreed on his choice of movies and would often spend more than an hour deciding on one that we could both watch, by which time it would be too late to start. I introduced Michael to streaming on Netflix (he pronounced it as “Netflex”) and Prime, and we enjoyed many evenings watching Scandinavian, French, German and Italian series.  

In saying goodbye to Michael, I am reminded of the countless lives he touched and the immense legacy he left behind. His influence is woven into my life’s work and felt in the countless lessons he imparted about integrity, curiosity and friendship. He taught me not only to pursue knowledge but to approach life with an open mind and heart, and to have fun along the way. I am grateful for every moment, every journey and every conversation. I carry his memory with me as a source of strength, knowing that while he is no longer physically present, his impact remains, deeply imprinted on all of us who knew and loved him.