"Gratitude Is . . . the Parent of All Other Virtues."

    
       "Gratitude is not only the greatest virtue, but it is the parent of all other virtues."  This was said by Roman philosopher Cicero and quoted at the funeral of Stephen B. Sample, former President of USC.

       It was President Sample who appointed the first Jew to be head of the Office of Religious Life on the USC campus, Suzan Laemmle, whom I greatly appreciated for her teaching of a course connecting contemporary Israeli poetry with its sources and connections in Biblical literature.

       When Suzan retired, President Sample hired a Hindu to head the Office of Religious Life; I imagine no Hindu had previously held such a position either.

       My gratitude to President Sample for the breadth of his appointments, to Suzan Laemmle for her imaginative and scholarly teaching, and to Cicero for his wisdom.