by Derek Bok, A.B., J.D., A.M.

Gerald’s greatest gift was as a lecturer, for which he was in great demand. He would speak on large subjects, drawing on his remarkable breadth of knowledge and a mesmerizing eloquence. In all my years in academic life, I have never heard anyone who could equal him.

Gerald was one of my mother’s British friends, who often visited our Laurel Canyon house. [Ed. Note: Bok was then six or seven years old.] He was a man of many talents. An excellent draftsman, he would sit with me when I fell ill with pneumonia and draw pictures of all kinds of things from sailing ships to the Bay of Naples. He could also tell wonderful ghost stories in a most dramatic manner. I can still recall sitting with my brother and sister one evening at dusk while he related “The Monkey’s Paw.” At a climactic moment in the story, he suddenly clutched my knee, sending me into paroxysms of fear.