FWD: We lost one of the good guys (Chuck Yerkes @ snew.com)]

Fri Aug 27 11:48:38 PDT 2004

Chuck was ubiquitous on baylisa; I figured I should forward this here.

I know I, for one, will miss his insight and wit.  

----- Forwarded message -----

>From Nick Christenson's post to comp.mail.sendmail.   His words capture 
what I've been thinking all day and have been unable to verbalize. 

I post this to zorch since, while he was not a member that I'm aware of
many of the people here may have rubbed elbows with him over the years.

Subject: Loss to the sendmail community

Last night, this community lost one of its own.  Chuck Yerkes succumbed
to injuries suffered during a traffic accident that occurred on his way
home from work.

I had the pleasure of working with Chuck for several years at Sendmail, 
Inc..  We worked closely together on many projects, and I got to know him
fairly well.  I admit it, sometimes he drove me absolutely nuts.  But 
more often he'd say something funny that would completely make my day.
He had done a lot of amazing things in his life.  Moreover, he really knew
how to put events together to form a great story.  One of the true tragedies 
of an incomplete life is that we don't get to reap the benefits of the good 
work Chuck had yet to perform.  I, for one, wanted to see what he was 
going to do next, and I was looking forward to someday hearing about it 
from him.

Chuck was extremely bright and dedicated, and he knew an awful lot about
some amazingly diverse things.  His mind was able to make the sorts of 
connections that would astound me.  Often these were pretty wacky.  More
then occasionally they were brilliant.  He definitely had a way of 
turning a memorable phrase.  One that I'm fond of quoting, although I
don't know if it was original to him or not, is a mild admonishment he
made to a colleague:  "Do not anthropomorphize computers.  They don't
like it."  I believe that this statement captures his spirit well.

Many times when serendipity has struck or the gods of irony have manifested
themselves in my life in the last few years circumstances would remind me 
of Chuck.  Usually, that thought would make me smile.  Now that remembrance 
will be bitter sweet.

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
"Don't be an asshole -- vote Democratic in 2004."