Rufus Jones Haase
1994-2008
Rest in Peace // Rest In Joy

Rufus was a good and faithful companion over more than a dozen years Leaving his pawprints on the hearts of strangers and "family" worldwide Never afraid to get into a little trouble and Always ready to have fun or make a new friend. Something we can still aspire to.

“Rufus Jones Haase” was likely born in Boston or Brookline in 1994, a mix (apparently) of Laborador Retriever and German Shepard, trans-atlantic from the start. His mix of golden hair and black (later black/grey) markings gave him a striking and handsome appearance. He was athletic, gregarious, and wonderful with children. While occasionally rambunctious, he was also able to maintain a calm and centered presence and often joined family and Friends in silent Quaker worship.
In his first home, we believe that he was well-loved but inconsistently treated by his human, a well-meaning woman with substance abuse issues who called him "Rocky". He was given up for adoption to the Brookline Animal Hospital in the summer of 1996. Due to a combination of his previous owner's well-meant misrepresentations and the compassion of the shelter staff, Rufus/Rocky was kept for 3 weeks, two weeks longer than the usual 1-week term preceding mandatory euthanasia.

In the nick of time, Rufus was adopted by Ken Haase and Margaret Benefiel, a Quaker couple living in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Ken & Margaret renamed him “Rufus” after Rufus Jones, an early 20th century Quaker philosopher and founder of the American Friends Service Committee. Rufus Jones was also Ken's great-grand-mentor, having been the mentor of Warren McCulloch who had been a mentor to Marvin Minsky, Ken's graduate and undergraduate advisor and mentor at MIT.

At the time, Ken was a professor at the MIT Media Laboratory, and Rufus joined Ken at the laboratory every day, interacting with colleagues and students and becoming the resident "Media Lab," occasionally giving demonstrations for visiting sponsors and dignitaries. He also served as the focus for conversations on animal cognition in Ken's graduate seminar "Cognitive Theories Of Everything". Rufus was also distinguished to be among the earliest dogs with a web presence, established by Ken's student Martin Hadis.

In 1997, Ken was asked to help create a new spinoff research laboratory, the European Media Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany and Rufus relocated to the charming city along the Neckar River. The new laboratory's setting, the historic Villa Bosch, was somewhat too formal for Rufus' free spirit, so Rufus took on a part-time position as managerial assistant at the Parkhotel Atlantic, a bed-and-breakfast nearby the Villa Bosch. In that position, he greeted guests, helped bring them to their rooms, and had some role in cleaning up after each morning's breakfast.

Towards the end of 1997, Rufus moved to Brussels, Belgium to be one of the founding mammals of Starlab, a blue-sky research laboratory established by Walter de Brouwer. Rufus lived with Ken and Margaret in Brussels for over a year and lived through Starlab's evolution from a speculative glimmer to global intellectual greenhouse. During this time, Rufus also travelled extensively in Western Europe, including Copenhagen, Bruges, Amsterdam, and Paris.

While in Brussels, Rufus lived near and enjoyed exploring La Bois de La Cambre, where he indiscriminately enjoyed the company of French, Flemish, and expatriates alike. Rufus also especially enjoyed sharing meals at Cafe de L'Universite, where the less species-ist laws of Belgium allowed him to accompany his humans and enjoy the generosity of other patrons, reinforcing a sometimes awkward hopefulness of human gustatory generosity. In a dubious web rumor, it is claimed that the the actor George Clooney, as handsome and charming as Rufus in a human sort of way, may have once worked at this cafe.

In 1998, Rufus returned to the United States, where he lived with his humans in Gloucester, Massachussets, particularly in the Annisquam neighborhood (overlooking Lobster Cove). While enjoying walks and all-season ocean swims (near the historic lighthouse), Rufus also returned to a daily routine at the MIT Media Laboratory, where Ken worked as a visiting professor.

In 2001, Rufus helped found beingmeta, a semantic technology startup commercializing his human's work at the MIT Media Laboratory. Rufus moved most of his activity to beingmeta's headquarters in Dorchester, paying special attention to protecting staff from overwork and repetitive stress injuries.

In December of 2007, Rufus was diagnosed at Angell Memorial Hospital with canine lymphoma and, after some initial chemotherapy, given a prognosis of 6-9 months. He enjoyed ten months of mostly robust life and began to decline in November 2008 and was finally released from this life on November 29, 2008.

In his life, Rufus was a gregarious and adaptable friend and companion, fostering with dozens of families and meeting hundreds of people on walks, public transportation (he was a regular rider of MBTA subway and commuter rail), and the many workplaces he called home. He will be missed.