The Impact of Bill Gray on Our Science: A Personal Overview Based on 55 Years of Interactions

I first met Bill Gray in person when I was a graduate student working for the summer at the National Hurricane Research Project (now NOAA/AOML/HRD). For the next 55 years, he alternated between being an inspiration and a needle in my side, but always a valued colleague and a close personal friend. This talk gives a few examples of both sides of Bill Gray, while recognizing and highlighting his monumental contributions to our current knowledge of hurricanes and tropical meteorology. While serving as Editor for the tribute to Bill Gray’s science achievements, recently published (Klotzbach et al. BAMS 2017) the full breadth of his contributions was brought home to me with greater clarity than ever, and this talk gives an all too short summary, with details to be filled in by the speakers following.