Mike Joyce played a central, vital, crucial role in the promotion of conservative ideas over the past 30 years. I will leave it to John J. Miller, whose important book A Gift of Freedom chronicles Mike’s tenure at the Olin Foundation, to explain the nuts and bolts of Mike’s great work there and later at the Bradley Foundation. And I will leave it to others to explain his central role in the promulgation of vital public-policy ideas like welfare reform and school choice. I can only say this about Mike Joyce, who died at the tragically young age of 63 on Friday — he was a wonderfully decent, kind, thoughtful and serious man, a joy to talk to, generous with his time and his counsel, and it was a great gift to have been able to call him my friend.