When nature removes a great man, people explore the horizon for a successor. But none comes and none will, for his class is extinguished with him.
-Urho Kekkonen
As a young man Mark Ylvisaker planned to be a philosopher, and while he often teased that he was happy to "get that out of [his] system" he retained the soul of a philosopher to the end. His orientation to his work is best summarized in the ancient dictum that "theory without practice is dead, practice without theory is blind." While Mark was joyfully engaged in the daily labors of a practicing clinician and college professor and was well versed in the state-of-the-art professional literature, many of the principles that guided Mark's work can actually be found in the wisdom of Plato, Kant, and Spinoza. He was passionately committed to providing his students and peers with practical strategies to use in their day-to-day practice that were built upon a strong theoretical foundation.
An ever-curious clinician and mentor, Mark sought, and in many ways created, a functional and systematic approach to helping individuals with brain injury. He was instrumental in the development of a literature base that provided practicing clinicians with a practical framework for intervention that supports meaningful engagement, improvement of self-regulation, and the construction of identity. A prolific writer, Mark authored over 100 publications, including 5 books; his book, Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Children and Adolescents, is generally accepted as the authoritative resource for those supporting young people with brain injury.
"Hey ya pal, you got a minute? This is going to be something!!" Mark used this friendly greeting to begin many conversations; a down-to-earth salutation that captures Mark's ever-buoyant spirit and is, in many ways, a most accurate expression of who he was. It is a demonstration of hopeful welcome from a person whose life was committed to hope, an invitation to collaboration from an individual committed to collaborative problem solving when confronting challenging issues, and an optimistic orientation to the prospect of working together. Mark was a "glass-is-half-full" guy, or more accurately, a "glass-is-way-full-and-overflowing" guy. His optimism was infectious and he had the enviable capacity to make anyone who came in contact with him find the best in any situation, no matter how difficult. He saw the best in everyone and brought out the best in the many people who had the great fortune of working with him. You could not help but like him, even if you did not agree with him, and his depth of knowledge and his talent at demonstrating the wisdom of his beliefs made it very difficult to disagree with him.
Trained in communication disorders, many people had difficulty determining Mark's exact profession. Because he had a depth of knowledge and clinical skill that traversed multiple disciplines, an ability to explain the clinical importance of evidence from many literatures, and an uncanny ability to make connections across seemingly dissimilar areas, his work transcended assignment to any single profession. Given his multiple talents and extensive body of work, it is easy to understand why he had such immense effect on multiple professions including speech-language pathology, behavioral psychology, special education, neuropsychology, and rehabilitation. His broad influence is reflected in the roster of contributors to this special section, each representing a different area of interest and professional concentration, and each eagerly agreeing that Mark's work informed in the practice. He would have liked this.
Mark was 1 in a million. An original and gifted thinker, expert clinician, world-class lecturer, and exceptional writer, he found his greatest happiness in his daily work supporting individuals with brain injury. His 30 years of distinctive work has had profound influence on the field of brain injury rehabilitation and his impact will remain long after his heartbreaking death from cancer. Given his unique talents and significant impact on the field, it is fitting that the Editors of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation have chosen to grant the extraordinary honor of including a special section in his memory. He would have really liked this.