Like most of my generation, I grew up with Star Trek (TOS) as one of the cultural touchstones. Between reruns of the original series, the animated series, and the toys (I vaguely remember having a Spock action figure when I lived in Virginia – circa 1980-82), Leonard Nimoy was always there. Then, in the mid-80s, there was Standby: Lights, Camera, Action on Nickelodeon, where he went behind the scenes of movie production (I well remember the episode where they covered ST III:Search for Spock). It was always a brief thrill to see him pop up on unexpected shows – Fringe, or the voice-over bit from Big Bang Theory.

 He was an icon, and despite his fame always seemed to keep both a sense of humor (as evidenced below). He will be missed.