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For those of you who knew Bill Sampson, I'm sorry to inform you that he passed away last night.

He will be greatly missed and my sincere sympathies go out to his wife Karen and his family.

The funeral arrangements haven't been made yet, but I'll write an update once more information is available.

I'm sorry to hear of Bill's passing. He was a pioneer in the field of latent prints on human skin and responsible for much of what we know in that area today, having compiled data from hundreds of sources.

Bill became a friend of mine when I was editor of the JFI. Bob Hazen had encouraged Bill to publish some of his invaluable findings in the miriad of areas he explored, and he finally sent me something. The material was rough, in need of editing, but so original. Bill was the type of crime scene investigator who never accepted status quo, and his research into subjects always seemed to be guided by real life situations in which something didn't work or work as well as he thought it should. While his study of latent prints from human skin is, indeed, pioneering, he had a restless mind that questioned everything, especially those whose basis for use was weak or obscure. I remember his exploration into recovering latent prints from spent cartridges, improved super glue fuming and overhead photography. He and Karen became wizards at product tracking, using clothing labels or other manufacturer clues to piece together vital information. And I still reference his study on how long a latent print can survive on a ceramic tile floor.

Bill did not suffer fools well, whether they were simply incompetent or those who claimed credit that others deserved. Bill acknowledged the contributions of others and he could not understand those who were aware of what others did but ignored citing them. That was part of his devotion to detail, and he sometimes used that as an object lesson. He once told me he took leaves from a tree that grew in the Carolinas but not in Florida to plant these for his students in mock crime scenes to see who would notice. He was usually disappointed but never completely discouraged. While he sometimes lamented the general state of crime scene investigation, he was quick to praise when someone took that extra step that resulted in some important information.

Bill was passionate about safety, and spent hours pursuing the risks of commonly used crime scene materials. His digging was extensive and some of his findings were scary.

We talked often on the telephone until his health began to fail. Each call began without a greeting but a direct question, many of which I could not answer. His was a voice of instant recognition, and he usually had several topics to discuss. When his health declined, we still talked, but less frequently, and our last conversation was several weeks ago. He sounded gruff to those who did not know him, but inside he was a sensitive, caring person that was a consummate professional. Our last talk was all too brief.

I greatly admired that restless mind of his, one that had moments of absolute brilliance, one that never gave up on finding solutions. He was an amazing seeker of truth, and I will sorely miss him.