I never knew Patrick. I did however cross paths with him and his cat while riding his bike. I was anamored by his relationship with his cat. I knew a soul that was as close to am animal as he was. Was an exceptional one. RIP Sir

Pat lectured to my class on Space Industrialization and National Priorities at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Pat in 1977 was a consultant at Hudson Institute, author of the Efflorescent World View, The Future of Space and other works of forecasting. Pat was an invaluable resource for Herman Kahn due to his extraordinary ability to generate lists of ideas. I later visited Pat in Chicago and years later in Massachusetts. I lost contact with Pat after the 9-11 tragedy when his abilities may have been put to use to attempt to piece together elements of the terrorism threat facing the country. I discovered this obituary searching for information on ideonomy, the science of ideas developed by Pat Gunkel.

When I was 11 I spent a few weeks of the summer at the Hudson Institute with Pat. It was a strange, wondrous time. I had a copy of "The Future of Space" for a long time afterward and wish I still had it. Pat was a brillian although difficult and extremely idiosyncratic man.

As a boy, under the aegis of the Hudson Institute, Patrick served to validate and encourage my own search and yearning for the other and indeed a more accurate knowledge of the context in which we humans actually exist. Absent the critically important acknowledgement and recognition he brought at such an early age I might have been utterly lost as a person then as well as later in life, but instead I was strengthened and empowered by Patrick and his utmost thoughtful work so as to be able to dispense with consensus perceptions and obligations, affording myself literal freedom and latitude of thought which sustain me to this day. I remain exceedingly grateful for the compassion, care and interest Patrick manifested and I as yet remain intent on fulfilling the promise he identified. Ad Astra, Patrick...

I first met Pat in 1976 when I was but 13 years old. I was at that time living in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Pat taught me that you can learn anything simply by visiting the museum and the library. He helped me at such an early age to contemplate his Science of Ideas (Ideonomy) and this led me to logic and ontology. Pat got me into science and into science fiction: the art of the possible limited only by ones on imagination. I realized this limit to imagination was created by society and not actually a limit if one recognized that imagination can be applied in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics and any endeavor of humans. As a result of Pat’s influence I was deeply positively and irreversibly impacted. This impact helped me through my life and has been the kernel of many of my own activities. I sincerely will miss Pat. I reconnected with him via emails and we met when I travelled to visit him in Wood’s Hole some years prior to his Princeton move. We talked on the phone and while he was a uniquely eclectic man, I always found his world view of inquiry and challenge a wonderful breath of fresh air - if only to have a completely different viewpoint in life.

Patrick and I communicated with each other for three years starting in my freshman year in High School. We met on an Earthlink Astronomy forum and, as he had an interest in intellectually precocious youths, and I a fascination with the complexity and depth of the world around me, he very generously took an interest in my intellectual development. His talents dwarfed my own but his intellectual passion and focus left a lasting impression on me. His mind was a labyrinth of quixotic notions and the most unusual musings that just seemed to turn itself inside out, constantly birthing ideas and seeing interconnections or relationships of the most brilliantly speculative nature. I think Patrick may have been the most interesting mind I've ever had the privilege of engaging with. Twenty years later I still wish I could speak with him, or read any of his 3 or 4 unpublished books. He was a man for whom all things were possible. I'm grateful to have known him.

I recently (around mid November 2019) bought a copy of the book Incredible Life by William Corliss from a book shop in Colorado if I remember correctly and inside the book were 2 letters from Patrick dated July 1981,one to Dr Jonas Salk and one to Prof Ed Wilson of Harvard University. I passed the original letters on to a friend but kept photocopies. I feel rather guilty about this but if any relative of Patrick`s is reading this and wants photocopies please can they contact me at richardmuirhead66@outlook.com ,I live in Macclesfield U.K.

Back in the 80's Patrick sent to me a FedX box of materials of his research. Does anyone have the name/address/email of a close relative/friend whom I could consult regarding these materials?

I was friend of Pat and worked with him for years on ideonomy, perspective and studies into the group structure of orders of magnitude. I enjoyed discussing many things with him and found him to be a unique character.

Though Pat didn't finish high school, he did attend. He was in my Russian History class, and took it upon himself to bring in recordings of classical music by Russian composers. On the surface I was sort of an opposite of Pat: class president, captain of the footbal team, good student... But, we hit it off, and with another friend of his who happened to be my co-captain, we hung out. We visited the Bahai Temple in Evanston, the Theosophical Society in Wheaton, and other atypical teen boy trips. He showed me his unique collections including photos of snowflakes. After graduation, I went to Dartmouth, then dropped out and saw Pat once more before I went to Vietnam. He was (trying to ) sell encyclopedias, but mentioned he may be joining the Hudson Institute of Futuristic Studies. I hadn't heard about him at all since then. I felt like Googling Pat's name tonight because of a young man I work with who reminds me of him. I am happy to learn Pat had had a reasonably long life that suited him. He loved existence.

I knew Pat when we were kids, in Lombard, Illinois. He and my now departed friend Dave Inglis, and I would experiment with the flammable and explosive chemicals Pat would ignite at his back yard and in the Swamp not too far from my house. Even then, in our early teens, I knew Pat was way over the top in brilliance, even in his experiments. Fifty years later, I have looked him up and found of his involvement at MIT, and his passing in 2017. One never knows when you are close to greatness, unless it is to far away to recognize!

I met Gunkel (that's how we addressed him) with some med school friends in St. Louis in the late 60's and visited him in his apartment near a park with a heated (in winter) geodesic dome full of plants. We sat and talked, mostly him, and were just trying to keep up with his path of thoughts. At that time it was a lot futuristic ideas. His emotions were flat but very cordial. We knew we were in the presence of a genius and so thankful he'd accept us in whenever we visited for a chat. I found his name just now in my address book and decided to google him to see if he'd made it to the world stage. And I am so happy he did! He just needed a little sustenance help, which he found from anyone he talked to for a while. He is the most intelligent person I've ever talked with and I wish so much we could talk now. People come in all kinds but there aren't a whole lot with his encyclopedic and hungry mind. I'm sure he made an indelible impression on anyone he talked with. I hope he felt his life was wonderful. He certainly woke up a whole lot of minds in his time.