The news is awful. The second battle with leukemia is over. The last effort to treat the disease failed, and she died last night. I thought her friends in the IR business should know.
I found out about her struggle late during the first round of her fight, but was kept apprised via a community info-sharing/coordination group the second time. It is clear that Pattie was just as brave, stubborn, tough, and all that the second time, but it was not enough.
Over the past year or two, I have been sending Patty silly pictures to try to lift her spirits. It was all I could do from a distance. That and promote her book. And damn, it is a mighty fine book (I have changed my twitter and facebook avatars to her book), explaining the tradeoffs and dynamics involving American choices between alliances and coalitions of the willing. I just wish she could have been promoting it at the ISA.Of course, I wish I spent more time with Patty over the years, as she was an awesome conference buddy. I almost got the chance to be her colleague, but that job search did not work out for me so many years ago. It would have been terrific, as she has been a fierce ally of mine even though we rarely connected--just at conferences. She had a great sense of humor (which means she laughs at my jokes), has been such a voice of reason, and provided great service to the profession. She was such a great spark of humanity.
I am already missing Patty.
Given that her work was on alliances, I think this New Zealand bit of grieving works in this context. I'd like to rage at the skies over this loss.
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