In Memory of Yale Braunstein

This is what I learned from Yale: that the maximize net benefits rule will create the same outcomes as the golden rule. My recollection of his rationale is hazy but I think it went something like this.

Using the basic formula - to maximize net benefit, increase or decrease the level of activity until the marginal benefit from the activity equals the marginal cost of the activity or MB=MC - Yale then went on to prove that the cost of treating someone else as you would like to be treated had to equal the benefits of being treated by that person in a similar manner. Perhaps his reasoning was that to maximize net benefits you should make all changes that increase your benefits without increasing your costs. Therefore, if the amount of energy (cost) you expend to treat someone well is the same as the benefit you receive by being treated well in return, then you have maximized your net benefit.

Even though I have no assurance that I have re-created his argument perfectly, I am certain that I understood what he meant. Just as I am certain that he lived by his maximize net benefits rule and that I, and his other students, were better off for it.

Yale was an active participant in the OE IT Team a year or so ago.  Insightful comments, piercing (but friendly) questions, unwavering patience and humor.  His thoughtfulness at every turn was always welcome, even as the voice over the phone.  Rest well... thank you.

I was deeply saddened to hear of Yale's passing. The Berkeley faculty has lost a real gentleman. I had the honor and pleasure of working with Yale on faculty welfare matters in the Senate, most recently on changes to our pension system and healthcare affordability. I very much appreciated his thoughtful approach to problems, and overriding kindness.

Yale was my friend and mentor and a tremendous influence on my life. As his Research Assistant, and then as one of his doctoral students, I spent countless hours talking with him in his office. Our conversations always began with whatever task needed attention, but without fail meandered into spirited discussions of current events, enriched by his many, many stories. Yale and I shared similar political perspectives, so often these talks were a mutual effort to try to understand what seemed so baffling in the world of government and public policy. We also shared an inclination towards activism, which he carried with him from his days as a graduate student at Stanford. This sensibility wasn't just a part of his past though.  When students at what was still the Library School organized protests in the mid-90's to keep South Hall open as a library school, Yale proudly joined with us in a press conference in front of the building, speaking as a faculty member and thus publicly supporting our efforts to keep a vibrant and important program alive.

Yale was a dedicated supporter of his students as they worked to achieve their academic and professional goals. He was always willing to help me untangle a bureaucratic problem with the university or a theoretical knot in my own research. In my current job providing open access publishing services to UC researchers, I am finding that his analysis of the economics of information and scholarly communication are as relevant today as ever; I will miss the conversations we no doubt would have had about his latest perspectives on these issues. But it is more than his sharp intellect that I will miss, there are all of Yale's other wonderful qualities—a deep concern for justice and equality, great integrity, a wry sense of humor and most of all, a generous spirit. I will miss him greatly, but I will always feel so fortunate to have known him.

Some of you may remember the effort to close the School in the early 1990s. The graduate students and alumni worked together to advocate to keep the school open. As a part of our advocacy, we had a press conference in front of South Hall. Yale was very supportive of our work and took part in the press conference, as you will see in the accompanying photos.

We met Yale when spending a semester as visiting students at the School of Information, where he was our host. Throughout our stay, Yale not only provided us with the help and advice we needed to work on our projects, but welcomed and supported us in a way which was far beyond what we expected. His true interest in our thoughts, ideas and plans and his accessibility not only as our professor but as our mentor and true supporter made him an exceptional professor and a person that we will fondly remember.

The picture was taken when Yale invited us for dinner shortly after our arrival in 2009. He joked with us when he saw us arriving on our bikes, delayed, exhausted, and hungry. He drove us back home by car that night so we would not get lost in the Berkeley hills again.

We will truly miss him. Christian, Claudius, Eva & Isabella

I met Yale as our host during our stay as visiting students (from the CDTM program in Munich) at the I School last year in Spring. By now he has hosted several generations of students from our program and we are all very sad about this loss. Yale was a great friend and supporter of our program and made sure that each and and every one of us visitors were taken care of. He visited Munich several times and at one point even gave the commencement speech for our CDTM program.

Yale was an inspiring man to all of us. It was always impressive to see an accomplished man like Yale getting excited about new things and ideas. One could feel that he hadn't lost the enthusiam for changing things. His offer to help out whenever necessary was one that could be counted on. He always had this witty attitude towards solving problems and pointing out ways on how to work around any red tape if necessary.   

I remember that we had several dinners with him and his family where Yale was never short of an interesting new story. He was an avid story teller and his trademark laughter slowly blending in after each punch line will never be forgotten. His passion for European and German culture, fast cars, good food, beer and wine was always a great source for countless conversations with him that we truly enjoyed.

Spending a semester at the I School was a great opportunity for me personally and I'm deeply grateful to Yale for making this possible. I wish his family all the best and I'm happy that I had the chance to meet a great man like him.

I am deeply saddened by this news and I wish Yale's family and friends all my best.

Yale was a wonderfully humane and generous person and something of an avuncular figure to me, offering invaluable advice, humor, and wit. I will warmly remember him as a great mentor and kind hearted soul that brought so much to the community at South Hall.

My friendship with Yale began in the late 70’s when he was teaching at NYU and I was working in Boston. In 1983, I came to the I school (then SLIS) as a doctoral student and that spring there was a faculty search underway for an information management professor.  Michael Buckland, who was then dean, asked me to contact Yale to see if he might be interested in applying for the position. Yale had completed his doctorate at Stanford, and I knew that he and Betsy were eager to get back to west coast.  As Yale was an information economist, I wasn’t sure that he would be interested in coming to a library school, but I called him and he ended up at SLIS the following year.  I am so grateful that I played a bit part in bringing him to Cal where he had such a memorable, remarkable career.

Yale was a truly amazing guy. He was passionate about his family, caring about his friends and his students, strong in his beliefs, with a true sense of what was just and right. He had a great sense of humor, a keen intelligence and a zest for living life to the fullest. One of my fondest memories comes from the late 70’s when a group of us were attending a conference in New Hampshire and we took the afternoon off to go off on a driving marathon around the area. There were a few guys there with their special cars…Yale’s Lancia, a Porche, and old MGB and the "in" technology of that time was the CB radio. We all had such fun out in the country, tearing up those mountain roads while spinning yarns back and forth on those CB's, and listening in on the conversations of others out on the road.

Yale was there for me every step of the way for the 6 years it took me to finally get that Ph.D. When I finally graduated, he and Betsy had a wonderful lunch for me and my family at their home after the ceremony. I couldn't have done it without his constant support and encouragement. And I know he has had that same impact on so many other students over the years.  He is gone from us too soon, and it is hard to imagine this world with no Yale Braunstein.

When I came to SLIS as a foreign student (1985-1991) I knew next to nothing about computers, let alone the wherewithall to purchase one of my own. As I was also Yale's R.A., he let me use his whenever he wasn't in the office (which, given that I was a night owl, actually worked quite well.) At the time, I was grateful but it wasn't until I was a faculty member myself that I realized what an act of trust it was. But that was Yale: generous to a fault, particularly with University property :-)

By foreign, I mean Canadian, which leads to my story. One day, the Secret Service was nosing around South Hall asking questions about me. Gennie called Yale from the Front Office, and I happened to be with him office at the time. Yale's first instinct was to tell me to run, and he'd deal with them. Never one to ignore good advice, I ran. Turns out all they wanted to know if I had actually enrolled. Nonetheless, Yale considered himself quite the hero!

I loved him very much, and my life is a little less bright, knowing he is no longer among us.