Jan Middendorp (4/9/56-12/8/23) contributed an incredible wealth of knowledge to the field of typography and was an integral part of our typographic family. I met Jan at my first TypeCon conference in Milwaukee in 2012. He was one of my first type design mentors, who offered business advice, type critiques, and introduced me to invaluable new contacts in the field. Jan was at almost every one of the larger type conferences, and I can vividly see him sitting in the lobby with his backpack slouched next to him, giving critiques to students or discussing the latest type controversies with colleagues. He published a great number of typography books that were not only jam packed with knowledge, but also beautifully designed, and written with a fresh, approachable style. I used his textbook “Shaping Text” in my Intro to Typography courses over the years, not only because it was thorough, but also because he knew how to draw students in with inviting content, with subheads like “Seducing with Type”. The conference talks are often enlightening, but the great networking and real fun happens after the talks, with dinner, drinks, and dancing. I found out that Jan was not only the center of