Michael Crichton

"Michael was an extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful. No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours, and no subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest. Sexual politics, medical and scientific ethics, anthropology, archeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics, and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation. I was blessed to have known him and proud to be able to have called him my friend." -- John Wells, executive producer of "ER," on Crichton's passing