Virginia Heinlein, Robert Heinlein’s wife of many years, died this past Sunday at the age of 86. Calpundit has fine piece on her life with Robert, and Jane Galt also says a few words.
My father raised me on Heinlein’s work, and the vast majority of my political philosophy (Release 1.0 of it, at least) came from his ideas, and ideals. His death in 1988 was probably the first and only passing of a public figure that I truly and deeply mourned.
If there is indeed an afterlife, I hope Robert and Ginny are happily reunited there. I owe them both a great debt that cannot be repaid, although that won’t stop me from trying.