Tanis Nielsen ’23

Student

I took Prof Keller’s CS 42 class my freshman year. He was the first teacher I had who was able to communicate the complexity and beauty of the field, and the class convinced me to continue studying CS. Even knowing Prof Keller for a short time I could tell that he was passionate about his work, and I will remember him fondly.

Dan Pryma ’98

No matter what time of day emails were sent, Prof. Keller was legendary for replying within 20 minutes. During my four years at Mudd I never heard of a longer turnaround. The replies were always helpful, too. His dedication and passion were inspiring.

Patricia Wang

Colleague

The performances by the jazz improv class taught by Bob were part of the few “late night” campus events I attended because I enjoy jazz and I love seeing our students shine as musicians. Bob had a way of bringing out their best and it was delightful to see returning students improve with every performance. Not being a night owl like Bob, I didn’t enjoy the 8 pm (or later) concert times, but I was always glad I went.

Richard Haskell

Colleague

I too recall vividly Bob on the road recruiting clinic projects. When Bob spoke, potential sponsors listened. He spoke thoughtfully, confidently, and from experience. And CS clinic projects were in hot demand – he enjoyed it and so did we (the co-traveling clinic directors). When he needed to relax, there was jazz, but he was also a film aficionado. I spotted him on numerous occasions slipping from one theatre to another at the Laemmle on weekends. I will miss him dearly, and I will always remember him.

Eric Heitzman ’02

Student

Hi Noel,

At HMC, Bob was the master of “functional programming.” Functional programming is a misleading name that could lead you to believe that it is straightforward, perfunctory, or mechanical, but in fact quite the opposite is true. As Bob taught it, it was very close to abstract math, heavy on recursion, and in my opinion as close to improvisational jazz as I’ve ever seen any computer science language. I didn’t know Bob was passionate about music at the time, but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense.
It’s been ages since I’ve taken one of his classes but I think of him often. He was a special man and an influential figure on hundreds or thousands of us students.

David Harris

Colleague

Bob was my mentor and colleague for many years. I especially enjoyed traveling with him as a Clinic Director. We had many interesting conversations about computing and education. His devotion to HMC students was inspiring.

Susan Martonosi

Colleague

I had the opportunity to serve as math clinic director while Bob was directing CS clinic. I enjoyed traveling with him and the other directors on recruiting trips and learned a lot from his mentorship. We talked a lot about music and had always planned to get together sometime to play piano duets; sadly we never had the chance. I always appreciated Bob’s directness during faculty discussions. I am thankful for the opportunity to have been his colleague.

Abby ’18

Student

Prof Keller’s dry humor was always a fun treat at late night grading sessions. He seemed to have night-owl tendencies that astounded me. Prof Keller was an incredible teacher that I’m so grateful to have been taught by and worked with. I will never forget the incredible music he shared with us throughout my time at Mudd.

Stephen Jones ’07

Student

When I was a first year in college Prof. Bob Keller reached out to me to play bass in his jazz improv class—this was my introduction to playing jazz. I ended up taking that course again and again every year of college, which was pretty important since I graduated with barely enough credits to get my diploma.

He also gave me my first job writing software on his Impro-Visor project. I was in charge of teaching the computer to play bass and comp on piano when given a chord chart. He was a mentor musically and professionally. He was the kind of guy that just wanted to play music with as many people as he could, and you learned so much from him even though it never felt like he was teaching—he just wanted someone to jam with. Everyday I wish I had more people like that in my life.

I remember one time asking him what he thought of a bass solo I played. His response: “Well… it was a bass solo…” 😂😂😂

I offer my deepest condolences to his family, friends, students, and colleagues.

Bill Daub

Colleague

I first met Bob across a table in a Department Chairs Committee meeting, where he was a new CS chair and I was the new Freshman Division Director. The exchange was unremarkable at the time, but over the years our relationship grew through chance meetings at Condit School (4H for the Kellers and AYSO soccer for me) and increasingly frequent chats about jazz music in which my children shared a common interest. Bob was a quiet and dedicated advocate for computer science, his students, and his love of music. He was the type of individual who led by doing and not by talking. A gentle soul, Bob will be greatly missed by all of us at Harvey Mudd.