I really got to know Karen when we moved back to Vancouver in 2014 though I knew her by reputation given her stellar achievements. We became friends and our families got to know each other. She was such a wonderful, versatile, brilliant, supportive person. She gave me so much of her time, energy and wisdom. We're still in shock about her passing. Most recently, she had asked me to read and review her wonderful new book, The Sounds of Life, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. She is deeply missed. Nos sympathies à Philippe, Solenne et Pauline. Gisèle, Ishkandar et Marcel (Ottawa.

Unassuming brilliance! I only learned of her book writing earlier this year through another neighbour. When I congratulated Karen she responded "well, I am a prof at UBC...it's what we do!". Thank you Karen, for your contributions to this planet during your short human life! With love. Rest in peace, Ann and Alex

Karen was a profound inspiration for me. Certainly, her power to listen, synthesize, and communicate with razer-sharp clarity, there was all that. But I think something more. She always followed her curiosity, about life, the Earth, the people all around her who had dedicated their lives to science and conservation... I recall, in one of our most recent encounters - amazed as I always was by the daunting range of her knowledge and her command of so many diverse worlds of knowledge - I asked her what had brought her to "The Sounds of Life". Without missing a beat she looked at me and said: "I want to do work I love", like it was the most obvious damn thing... which, for many of us, sadly, it is not. And her constant reminder was always that. She could write about anything because her curiosity was so endless and her wisdom was such that she let it take her where it would. Pretty much anywhere. I recall listening to a charming and thoughtful interview on NPR one bright morning, about how to raise North American kids like the French do (she was using her pen name for that project), and I heard this wonderful voice on the radio, and I stopped, and I said to my partner: "Hey, that's Karen!" Because of course it was.