RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero

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.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero
    ... > Bob Creasy: ... > inform my friends that Robert J Creasy, "RJ", was ... > was bigger than life and so full of life. ... > to be the greatest single contributor to quality computing within IBM ...
    (rec.motorcycles.harley)
  • Re: RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero
    ... > Bob Creasy: ... > inform my friends that Robert J Creasy, "RJ", was ... > was bigger than life and so full of life. ... > the creator of the finest operating system ever released by IBM, ...
    (rec.motorcycles.harley)
  • Re: RJ Creasy, A Fallen Hero
    ... > Bob Creasy: ... > inform my friends that Robert J Creasy, "RJ", was ... > was bigger than life and so full of life. ... > to be the greatest single contributor to quality computing within IBM ...
    (rec.motorcycles.harley)
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