Dr. Warren Washington was a pioneer in more ways than one, and his contributions to climate knowledge are quite remarkable. As a 1964 graduate of Penn State, Warren Washington and Akira Kasahara developed the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) General Circulation Model at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Warren assisted in pushing forward innovation through improvements in ocean and sea ice components for Earth System Models (ESMs) and used massively parallel supercomputers to increase wall-clock time. Warren helped promote paleoclimate research and opened the door for many women and scientists of color while at NCAR always encouraging future scientists. I discuss his legacy and his influence on my current research, which examines changes in Saharan Dust at the end of the 21st century.