I agree with all the comments regarding his autobiography, an outstanding read. I would have loved the opportunity to meet him and get him to sign my copy, a sad passing but an eventful life.
I find it interesting that he turned down the opportunity to command Apollo 17 and walk on the Moon, as events turned out he might have been the ‘last man on the Moon’ instead of Gene Cernan. No longer the ‘forgotten astronaut’ in that event.
Instead he chose to spend more time with his family, as well as the fact that his wife wanted to leave Houston (was there an ultimatum there?) The astronauts were a driven and intensely competitive bunch so it’s not a choice many of them would have made. He was also one of the few whose marriage didn’t fail under the pressure of long hours, time away and the ‘Cape Bunnies’ throwing themselves at the astronauts, a fact probably connected to his choice.
RIP.