Rob Lucas (1978-2020)

Abstract

Rob Lucas, founding managing editor of Pathogens and Immunity died on July 2, 2020 after a 7-year battle with sarcoma. Rob was born in Akron, Ohio, and attended and graduated from the University of Akron with a MA degree in Mass Media and Electronic Communication. A dedicated filmmaker, he wrote and directed numerous films including the documentary about Olympic Athlete Stella Walsh that was shown at over forty film festivals including the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Rob taught film at the University of Akron and founded the Akron Independent Film Festival and co-founded the Nightlight Cinema. He worked as an editor for Gray Publishing before coming to Case Western Reserve University in 2015 to found Pathogens and Immunity.

He was the driving force behind the development of the journal from scratch, navigating the intricacies of biomedical publication, assuring that the journal sustained exacting standards of publications excellence.  Our board of editors and our authors found Rob an extremely effective, collegial and committed editor who strived to make scientific publications as seamless and streamlined as possible for scientists and readers. 

Rob wrote, directed, and together with poetry editor Danny Douek and Nikhil Chand, filmed the brilliant video introduction to our journal (How to Submit a Scientific Paper) that appears on the Pathogens and Immunity website. It has received more than 3,000 visits and plenty of thumbs up on YouTube.

Filmmaker, editor, volunteer at homeless shelters, animal rescuer, writer, blogger and altogether decent man, Rob leaves his wife Sara, daughter Grace, mother Martha, father Bob, sister Megan and numerous friends and colleagues bereft at the loss of someone so young and so good.