From R to L (facing camera): Ae Ja Yee, Bruce Berndt, Dick Askey, Shaun Cooper, Michael Schlosser, and me At Alladi 60 conference at a conference reception at the Alladi residence

Howard Cohl and Mourad Ismail created a Liber Amicorum (Friendship Book) to present to Richard Askey. Askey is not well, and he and his wife Liz have moved into a Hospice in Wisconsin. Askey is our leader, the leader of our field, and of the people in the field. 


UPDATE (October 9, 2019): Alex Berkovich and Howard Cohl informed that Dick is no more.


My entry for his book is here: Thank you, Dick


The title is appropriate. When Dick autographed my copy of the book, Special Functions by Andrews, Askey and Roy, he wrote “Thank you for your work, early and now”. (Here is my book review of this book.) He gave extensive comments on receiving a draft copy of my unpublished book “Experience Mathematics” and tried to help me get it published. My paper “How to discover the Rogers-Ramanujan Identities” is essentially an expansion of something that took Dick a couple of paragraphs. 


When I returned to mathematics, I hung out with him in many conferences, and he was very supportive, coming for my talks, making remarks. In general, he was very welcoming. I have missed him the last couple of years.