Paul F. Cranefield, M.D., Ph.D., passed away in New York City on May 31, 2003. Dr. Cranefield was Editor of the Journal of General Physiology for almost 30 yr, from 1966 until 1995. During that time he became the de facto mentor to a generation of scientists through his demands for not just excellence but perfection! Under his stewardship, the Journal became renowned for the thoroughness of the editorial review received by all submitted manuscripts and the corresponding high quality of the papers that its authors were expected to deliver. Another characteristic that became ingrained in the Journal under Dr. Cranefield's editorship was fairness: fairness to the authors and fairness to the reviewers. Dr. Cranefield read and evaluated each manuscript, but he almost never made decisions based solely on his own opinion. If the two reviewers disagreed, or if he felt that one review of...
