As many others in the community, I am devastated at the tragic news from Scott Hooks of the passing of Tim Tripcony. I first met Tim in person some years ago at BLUG, although I had since co-hosted an episode of The XCast in which he appeared and he had already contributed many comments on my blog. Tim’s infectious personality and his audacious willingness to push the boundaries of XPages was bound to impress anyone. And when I learned that this guru who was already living deep in the bowels of the XPages runtime had not been a Java developer before XPages, I was in awe. In more recent months he had moved from XPages to Android development, again showing an ability to pick up new skills with his work on Yubixi.
During 2011 we worked on XPages Extension Library with Paul Hannan, Declan Lynch and Jeremy Hodge. It was an honour to collaborate on that book.
We planned to speak together at BLUG in 2012 on everything under the hood of XPages. Unfortunately Tim had to pull out, but helped me with the session by giving me PhaseListener code and reviewing the slides. Although I presented the session on my own at a few conferences, we finally got to present it together at UKLUG in 2012 in Cardiff. It was without a doubt the best incarnation of that session, with the best structure for what was easily two hours of content! But the content of the session was secondary to the costumes he suggested, and Rene Winkelmeyer got a classic photo of two Jedi’s holding council outside the venue after we finished. (Thanks to Serdar Basegmez for sharing some other photos of that session.)
We never got to speak together at another conference, though we did have a few “collaborations” in Kimonos!
Tim’s ability to learn new technologies and explain the complexities to the novice made him a great asset to the community. His enthusiasm, infectious laugh and laid back manner made him a popular person. I’m honoured to have been able to call him a friend. Though he is gone, he will certainly never be forgotten.
I have never meet Tim but Its like i know him , I never spoken to him but I read his blogs all the time. He was one of my idols in Xpages world that am just a beginner.
You will be missed and my heart goes out to his family.
Palmi
That’s the Tim I will always remember. A smile on his face, and belting out “My Way”.
Awesome, appropriate photo mate.
(hug)!
This is really sad news. I never knew Tim but I was a follower of his blog and learned a great deal of XPages from his articles and answers on StackOverflow which explained every nitty-gritty. A big loss for the Domino/XPages community.
Paul,
As I have said in a few places where people have commented on Tim’s passing, the occasion has reminded me of the importance of telling people how you feel about them or the impact they’ve had on you while you have the time and not waiting until it’s too late. I had a dear friend pass last year the day after I put off a phone call to her, telling myself “I’ll call her tomorrow”. I still hate myself for it.
So again, I’d like to say “Thank you” for the welcoming smile and conversations at Connect. And thanks for letting me hang out with you and your lovely wife at Kimono’s when I came alone. It’s kind of weird being the newbie when everyone else has known each other for so long. But you made me feel right at home and that was pretty cool. So, thank you, most sincerely.
Thanks for your kind words, and you are more than welcome. I would also echo your sentiment. I lost my mother just over a month ago and I’m very thankful I discussed some upcoming changes in my life the last time we met. It softened the blow and gave some degree of closure.
Paul – I am so sorry to hear of your own personal loss. I was privileged to be at the Cardiff session you mentioned – all the seats were taken and I and John ended up sitting on the floor for the duration. I can still remember the session like it was yesterday – the two of you managed to deliver a truly memorable session despite the heat and overcrowding. Tim was a larger than life character – a giant in the Xpages community and will be missed by those who like you knew him personally and those of us who knew him through his generosity of spirit and technical prowess.