Robert Weisberg died suddenly and unexpectedly on 1 September 2011. Bob was a major contributor to the study of bacteriophage lambda, and he made seminal contributions to our understanding of site-specific recombination and transcription termination. He was also an exceptional citizen of the microbial community, serving as an editor for both the Journal of Virology (1983 to 1988) and the Journal of Bacteriology (1985 to 1995). He will certainly be missed. Max Gottesman wrote the following tribute to his long-time friend and colleague.