As with many large NIH-funded cardiometabolic study biorepositories, the UVT Biorepository run by Russ Tracy served the CALERIE study as its biorepository. Not only did the institution receive, store and catalog our samples, it performed much of the lab-based assays for the trials, and distributed samples until they were transferred to the NIA Research Biorepository. Perhaps most important, Russ served as a font of knowledge about how to manage a study biorepository. His most memorable and helpful statement — "The only good biorepository is an empty biorepository.