It was the loss of those professors. He could have been an important source for a book or scholary paper. Some assistant professor who befriended could have been famous or at least received tenure!
> It was the loss of those professors. <
Yep. History professors read about the Battle of Berlin. They write about the Battle of Berlin. This janitor was actually at the Battle of Berlin, holed up in a building with a panzerfaust (a German anti-tank weapon). He was a living witness.
Yet all those professors walked right past him as he mopped the floor.