Abstract
Friends and colleagues responded oyerwhelmingly to the death of Daniel S Lev on 29 July 2006 with tributes and fond recollections. Dan had spent his entire academic life, since his first trip there in 1959, dedicated to the study of Indonesia, and nearly three decades teaching politics at the University of Washington. His eclecticism and intellectual breadth had been a hallmark of his long teaching career. For most who recalled his life it was his expertise in comparative politics and legal systems, his commitment to human rights, and his support for legal activists in Indonesia that were the mark of the man. His knowledge of Indonesia was encyclopaedic and his skills as a political analyst and legal expert won him universal respect. Yet for me personally, it will be as a biographer and observer of others' lives that I remember him best.