Just a few days ago I received an email from Sun Hydraulics about the passing of Bob Koski. Although I had little opportunity to know Bob on a personal level, I was fortunate to know him professionally. Seems like whenever I attended any important fluid power technical event, he was there. Bob knew the importance of international networking, and whenever I attended a technical conference overseas, Bob was there.
If I had to sum him up on a professional level, he was a man of action. For example, he recognized fluid power as a global technology decades before the term became popular. The U.S. had been the world leader in fluid power R&D through the 1960s. Bob voiced the need for U.S. industry and academia to reverse this trend. He was the one who took action.
Bob was influential when the Fluid Power Society was established, but became critical of FPS for becoming more of a "social club of salesmen" than a driving force of the industry. He saw the need for an organization that would focus on bringing industry and academia together in order to propagate the technology and application of fluid power.
His actions led to the formation of ASME’s Fluid Power Systems and Technology Division, whose members consist of university students, faculty, and a sprinkling of industry professionals.
And I imagine Bob grew tired of having to travel overseas to attend a international fluid power conferences organized by universities. He did something about that, too. With the cooperation of Monica Ivantysnova, PhD, of Purdue University, he was instrumental in bringing the Fluid Power Net International PhD Symposium to the USA in 2006.
But those are just two of the efforts that come to mind. I’m sure Bob had a hand in many other major efforts to advance the state of the art of fluid power. If you know of these, or would like to read or contribute other comments, please add to this thread.