Natural respect comes to those like Mr E who was totally unassuming - only prior research revealed who he really was .... and showed he was well deserving of the informal title of "Sir" rather than "Mr" and well above "Dr"!
Dear Hot ‘n High,
A curious thing to say. Prior research will usually reveal a lot of extraneous roles, but means nothing about skill. Professors of surgery are renowned for being totally handless. And Mr is definitely not above Dr.
BTW if it’s the Mr E I knew, he was pretty good at squash.
To return to the point of the OP, surely we leave all these things behind on retirement? Next phase in life and all that. Past performance is no guide to future performance.
caramba