A wonderful friend passed away last Friday. @NjHassel was taken by cancer from his amazing family and all of us who loved him. At the age of 42. It's bullshit.

Grief is odd, I'm stuck. I don't know what to do, but I need to share what an incredible human Niles was, thus a 🧵.

I met Niles in 2001 as we began our MS degrees @IdahoStateU. He had dreadlocks, an awesome beard (before they were hip); we all know a person like this, a total Character, like someone crafted in a clever novel. A little kooky, smart, antagonizing, loyal, opinionated, lovable.

He was into fungi, soil dynamics, and so many things I knew little about. But I loved our energetic and animated scientific discussions. He was brilliant and fun. @vargaslab has put together a lovely tribute to Niles' scientific interests and

In a place like Pocatello, ID, we had to make our own fun, and the Biology dept. was a tight knit community. I can't say Niles and I were best friends, but we were friends. When he and @emhasselquist started dating little did we know the makings of a future dream team had begun.

Fast forward a couple years, I had finished my MS and was working in Michigan looking for a PhD program. I made my way to @UCRiverside, where Niles had already started his PhD. He and Eliza invited me to be a roommate and Team Goodrich was born (Goodrich = street we lived on).