红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

Three days ago, out of the blue, I thought about an old friend, Steve, and wondered how he was doing. I googled him with the keywords “steven zucker jhu math” and was immediately hit by what I feared most: An obituary from the university announcing his death on September 13, 2019, one day after he turned 70. With tears in my eyes, I read about his life story. Steve was first and foremost remembered as a brilliant mathematician. However, without even pretending to understand his mathematical work, I remembered Steve as a sincere, compassionate, music-loving and sometimes dry-humored friend, who helped me go through the darkest time of my life. I met Steve in the university gym, where we struck a small talk from time to time. I complained to him how hard it was to find a good Asian restaurant in Baltimore and he offered to take me to a Thai restaurant he liked. From there we formed an interesting friendship, where I could talk about my experience as a foreign student trying to pursue