Jerry Nelson, the voice of Sesame Street’s Count von Count and other puppets, died on August 23, 2012.

That deep, satisfied laugh and that lightning were unmistakable. You had to laugh, too, at the way it followed him everywhere there were numbers. It was such a fixture that it’s startling when it isn’t there; when he shows up with 3 flowers in Big Bird at Home, I fully expected to see lightning in the kitchen. But perhaps lightning is scary for board books. (Or maybe just iffy table manners.)

It was wonderful to hear such enjoyment around counting. You can hear the Count in our Sesame Street DVDs, which will soon include more old-school episodes. (And just imagine what our department would sound like if the Count got his hands on our counting books!)