by Savraj Singh Dhanjal, L'99

I remember Bob as a calm, hard-working, and ever-content individual.  I worked with him closely for my final two years at Lawrenceville, and was particularly impressed with his ability to take The Lawrence to the Internet, when he created The Lawrence Online.  He and Chris Chin knew what they were doing when they built and hosted the entire site on a hand-built Linux box running the Internet-standard Apache web server way back in 1998.  Though the red-tape of Lawrenceville's ITS (Information Technology Services) prevented the web server from going public, Bob worked with the Head Master to make sure that the Lawrence had its own space on the public website that the Lawrence staff could update -- still a unique achievement among student organizations at Lawrenceville.

Bob also raised the bar for the print quality of The Lawrence, when he pioneered the digital submission process for mass reproduction.  He made an arrangement with the point person at the Princeton Packet to permit the submission of the entire newspaper on disk.  Since the packet could then print The Lawrence with its high-resolution digital printers, every copy would be as crisp as the digital original.

Technical achievements aside, Bob was an excellent editor and amazing leader.  He found the route to perfect leadership -- he never expressed open disappointment with the performance of his editorial staff, but instead advised through calm, cool commands and the occasional hard-look.  I remember sitting with Mr. Robbins in the corner of the Lawrence office, while still a candidate for editor-in-chief.  We both observed Bob editing copy and guiding his peers, all the while maintaining order in The Lawrence office.  I never recall seeing Bob angry, and he was always at ease -- he could still be stern, though, with his directed glance and low voice.  When the new board was given control of the Lawrence, I found that we just had to stay the course that had already been set by Bob and the last board -- we used the same procedures for collecting and editing articles, submitting, and printing, that Bob's board had developed.

When we needed help, Bob was there for us, and among the many 'changing of the guard' procedures, Bob took me to Hal's office at the Princeton Packet.  Before we left, Bob presented Hal with his resume, in the off-chance that an internship at the Packet was available.  Hal mulled over the resume for a few minutes, and was visibly taken aback by both its content and design.  "This looks like PageMaker," he said, and Bob smiled back, "That's because it is."  (PageMaker is the high-end design software used to print newspapers like The Lawrence and the Packet.)  To date, Bob is the only person I've ever known to use PageMaker for a resume.

I can only hope to emulate his attention to detail, his excellent communication skills, and have yet to build my own web server.  Bob, you were and excellent role model, and I am truly honored to have known you.

 Savraj Singh Dhanjal L'99

1-5-2002