December 25, 2001
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:The Beautiful Mind I Once Knew
I read with sorrow of Damian Penny's loss of a friend. Yet another reason, on top of the season and the opening of A Beautiful Mind , to think of a college friend who is no longer around.
Michael Laudor and I were "Social Activities Chairmen" of our residential college at Yale, which means we were in charge of beer and bands for Silliman College's parties. Mike's demeanor was sort of like Leon Redbone. He wore tinted glasses and was extremely laid back. The thing about Mike was he was brilliant, and never seemed to work very hard to obtain straight A's. He and I took a class together on computer-modeling physics problems (in Basic, no less). As his study partner, I found it hard not to coast on his work. Solutions just seemed to come to him.
Mike was open and friendly to anyone, completely without pretense. I never passed a minute with Mike when he wasn't listening and just being gemütlich. And then he'd say your thoughts back to you, only so much more eloquently, often adding information you didn't know. He was as likely to quote Dylan as Plato. People like Mike made Yale exciting. He was intellectually hyperactive yet completely unassuming. I passed many three-hour dining hall marathons with Mike and regretted losing touch with him in the years after graduation.
Mike worked at Bain & Co. for a after Graduation (1985) and had his first serious schizophrenic episode in 1987 when he was applying to Yale Law School, which he eventually attended. He was in and out of treatment during that time, but did well when he went to Yale:
The law school, Laudor told the New York Times in 1995, turned out to be "the most supportive mental-health-care facility that exists in America." The Times story, documenting Laudor's recovery from schizophrenia and his struggle to become a lawyer in a world prejudiced against mental illness, transformed his life. It led to a $600,000-plus advance from Scribner for writing his saga and $1.5 million for the movie rights from director Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment. At one point, Brad Pitt considered playing the lead in the film, titled, like the proposed book, The Laws of Madness. Society seemed ready to proclaim Laudor a hero, another who overcame.(from "A Precarious Genius")
In 1998 Mike stabbed his pregnant wife, Caroline Costello, to death. He has, of course, been locked up. While medicine has made great strides, treatment of mental illness has not produced a cure for his tortured mind.
There 'but for the grace of God' go we.
Several articles on Mike are available on the web:
Why Deinstitutionalization Turned Deadly
A Precarious Genius
The Michael Laudor Tragedy
A Hotshot Haunted and 'Hunted'