Re: RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero
- From: "D-Rog" <danger_13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 18:18:22 GMT
Redbeard Emeritus sezz:
> In this morning's e-mail, I received the following from
> Bob Creasy (bobc aka RoadRageBob):
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> Friends,
>
> With the deepest regret I am writing this email to
> inform my friends that Robert J Creasy, "RJ", was
> killed in a solo motorcycle accident on Highway 88 in
> Amador County on Thursday Aug 11. RJ was headed to
> the Stanley Stomp in Idaho when he failed to negotiate
> a turn roughly 3/4 mile east of Pioneer.
> Unfortunately he was not found until Saturday morning
> by the US Forestry Service. Many details are still
> unknown but I hope to have more closure today when I
> go to collect his personal effects.
>
> We're all reeling and waiting to wake up from this bad
> dream. Many of you have met RJ and know him well. He
> was bigger than life and so full of life. I am so
> proud of him and feel priveleged to be his son. I
> sure am going to miss him. (understatement of the
> century)
>
> Please relive a few good memories of him and send him
> a warm goodbye. He truly died doing what he loved.
>
> Please pass along this info as you see fit. Thanks.
>
> Ride safe.
>
> bob
>
> ----------------------------------------------
>
> Here is my reply:
>
> From: bobc <bob_creasy@xxxxxxxxx>
>
>> We're all reeling and waiting to wake up from this bad
>> dream.
>
> Really and truly.
>
>> Many of you have met RJ and know him well. He
>> was bigger than life and so full of life. I am so
>> proud of him and feel priveleged to be his son. I
>> sure am going to miss him. (understatement of the
>> century)
>
> Indeed.
>
>> Please relive a few good memories of him and send him
>> a warm goodbye.
>
> I only got to know RJ as a friend a fairly short time ago (a
> relatively few years). But without knowing the connection (a single
> degree of separation, little could I know), I'd known of RJ
> professionally for many, many years. I say without qualification
> that from another who grew up through the early days of the
> mainframes as RJ did, I know him to be the greatest single
> contributor to quality computing within IBM during his career. He is
> the creator of the finest operating system ever released by IBM,
> VM/CMS.
>
> Go here for a summary of what he has to say about it:
>
> http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~stjones/proj/vm_reading/ibmrd2505M.pdf
>
> I remember very well the first afternoon I met RJ, in my kitchen, as
> he and Bob and JW were passing through on their way to points east. I
> remember how easily and quickly I bonded with RJ, but more about that
> in a minute.
>
> Somehow, early on in the conversation, I believe JW said something
> about RJ and IBM's VM. I couldn't believe my ears. VM is so
> extraordinary, so basically unlike most things IBM, it came as no
> surprise to me when RJ confirmed that (unlike most everything else to
> come out of IBM), it had not been designed by committee. It was his
> product. And the lack of compromises that are inherent in committee
> work are so evident in his product. As RJ points out in his paper,
> such a product would foster controversy. VM was never by any stretch
> IBM's most widely used OS. Too few understood and appreciated its
> elegance. But for those of us who did, we embraced it and applauded
> its creator, long before knowing the really fine man who produced it.
>
> So, I put RJ on a pedestal long before I knew him. And as I already
> said, meeting him was such a privilege on several levels. First to
> have such an icon in my home. And as I'm meeting him, to connect so
> quickly and easily and closely. I DO remember that great evening
> (down at The National, of course). What a great time was had.
>
> Well, they did have places to go and people to see, and headed off, up
> 88, prompty the next morning. All too brief a meeting. Thankfully,
> not the last. But, so sadly, now not to be repeated again. (Also,
> sadly, it was just 10 miles up that road from here where he went off
> the road on Thursday.)
>
> A timely reminder to appreciate what you have right now. We cannot
> know the future. We must never take for granted the present.
>
>> He truly died doing what he loved.
>
> It's a very GOOD thing.
>
> So long, RJ, my friend, and one of my true heroes.
>
> John aka R.E.
<CLINK>
--
Later,
D-Rog
'98 FLHRCI - "Stella" http://www.d-rog.net/
"Whatever you are, be a good one" - Abraham Lincoln
.
- References:
- RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero
- From: Redbeard Emeritus
- RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero
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