![](https://paw.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/styles/feature_image/public/images/content/Inbox-ThoringtonNew.jpg?itok=-HVJuHTk)
Photo: Caroline M. Thorington
In Response to: Lives: Richard ‘Thor’ Thorington Jr. ’59
Thor Thorington ’59 did his senior-thesis work under the mentorship of my graduate adviser, the late Professor Gerhard Fankhauser, and we saw a lot of each other during that year. He was the most brilliant young person I’ve ever met (I spent 50 years on the faculty of the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School, so I’ve known a lot of young people) and was called “Mag Thor” (Magnificent Thorington) by the other students in Fankhauser’s merrie bande. Everyone who knew him is better for it, and learning of his passing saddens me greatly.