FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. i 



literature as a student. My first real contact with 

 his work came when, as a very junior biologist 

 at that same State Fisheries Laboratory, I was 

 given the task of recompiling some length fre- 

 quencies of Pacific mackerel, which were mea- 

 sured in units called "settes." The man I knew 

 of, the measurement not. It turned out he estab- 

 lished the half centimeter as appropriate for 

 mackerel during his days at the laboratory. The 

 unit later became known as the sette, and the 

 term was used for over a decade until the half 



centimeter finally fell from grace, being deemed 

 insufficiently precise. I first met him some years 

 after my encounter with the sette and found that 

 the good reports that preceded him were excelled 

 only by the man himself. 



So with this issue we honor as best we can 

 someone who has earned the respect and ad- 

 miration of those fortunate enough to have 

 crossed his path during his long and most hon- 

 orable career. He is in the truest sense a gentle 

 man^ 



PhUip M. Roedel 



524 



