One year later: remembering UA professor Thomas Meixner

Exactly one year ago, a former graduate student from the University of Arizona arrived on campus and allegedly murdered Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Department Head Thomas Meixner.

Meixner was a world-renowned leader in biogeochemistry. He dedicated his life to trying to save the world’s most precious resource–water. With over 200 publications, and almost seven thousand citations, his impact on both the hydrology and the University of Arizona community was undeniable.

As the one-year mark of his death carries across Southern Arizona, friends, family, colleagues, and students shared phone messages with AZPM News of the memories they had with the beloved professor.

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Kathleen Meixner, wife of Tom Meixner

"Live like Tom means being wholeheartedly connected to the people and causes which are meaningful to you... He chose to be all in every way and every day of his life. Time for him was a gift, and he used it well."

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Christopher Castro, colleague and friend

"Tom's philosophy is perhaps best encapsulated by this quote he shared on Twitter once, 'Hope is not optimism which expects things to turn out well but something rooted in the conviction there is good worth working for.'"

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Colin Cotter, brother-in-law

"One of Tom's colleagues had recalled Tom saying, 'In a world full of smart people, stand out by being kind.'"

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Margaret Meixner, sister

"Thomas developed an amazing life attitude as a four-time cancer survivor. He was never bitter, only better for it. He realized that every day should be lived well."

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Jocelyn Cotter, mother-in-law

"He could just break out into dance at any given moment. I can vividly recall him doing so in his home. In the kitchen, as he was helping to prepare dinner, he would just all of a sudden start dancing. It was just such a joy to behold."

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Joan Meixner, sister of Tom Meixner

"Tom, more than most of us, probably deeply and viscerally understood that nothing is promised. Therefore you enjoy all the things that are there."

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Kevin Cotter, brother-in-law

"I see (his legacy) in my sister Kathleen and his boys, Sean and Brendan. "

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Pierce Cotter, nephew-in-law

"We should really appreciate and love those around us while we still have them because you just never know what's going to happen."

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Jim Leehouts, colleague, friend and peer

"Tom was an idea machine, and they were good ideas that he seemed to be able to develop without end. His pursuit of those ideas was inspiring, even intoxicating."

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Jacqueline Bruhn, friend

"He always had some really interesting tidbit about the weather, or if it was raining, or if rain was forecast, or if it was dry, or the snow was melting. It was like this mini hydrology, desert, water life lesson that you didn't even really know until you walked away."

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Emery Coppola, colleague

"He knew exactly who he was and what he wanted to do with his life."

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Diana Hsieh, former graduate student

"I haven't forgotten what you've taught me, Tom. I miss you."

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Navid Dejwakh, former graduate student

"He was very practical and pragmatic. He knew how to apply different theories and knowledge of hydrology to the practical world."

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Abigail Kahler, former undergraduate and graduate student

"I would describe him as being a big presence."

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Carlos Soto, former graduate and doctoral student

"Even after moving close to 3,000 miles to attend graduate school, Tom made our little research group feel like family even welcoming us into his family home."

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Eric Carson, colleague

"I think he has left both an example to us all of how to be in the world, how to be leaders, how to care about the people around us, and certainly he's also left a legacy of incredible scholarship helping us understand how we can improve the planet and live more sustainably."

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Diana Zamora-Reyes, former graduate student

"He was always a really warm and kind person, and he was also an excellent professor and mentor."

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Martha Whitaker, colleague

"One of the things he always did was tell his graduate students that he was committed to funding them as long as they wore helmets while riding their bikes. He told them, kind of half joking, but actually really quite seriously, that if he ever saw them riding a bike without their helmet he would pull their funding...because he cared so very much about their safety."