Exactly one year ago, Jim Gray guided his sailboat Tenacious out of San Francisco’s Gashouse Cove Marina into the Bay. He sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge and continued towards the Faralon Islands, some 27 miles off the California coast line. Until that morning, I chatted with Jim via email or phone several days a week. He has reviewed everything I’ve written of substance for many years. When I consider job changes, I’ll always bounce them first off him first. When I come across something particularly interesting, I’ll always send it Jim’s way. Every month or so, he’ll send me an interesting pre-published paper. If a conference deadline like CIDR or HPTS is approaching, he’ll start pushing me to write something up and keep pushing until it happens. Every four to six months, he’ll decide “I just have to meet” someone with overlapping interests, someone who’s work is particularly interesting, or perhaps they are just super-clear thinkers and worth getting to know.
What’s truly remarkable is that tens and perhaps hundreds of people can say exactly the same thing. He has time for everyone and everyone has similar stories of mentorship, advice, detailed explanation, patience, and insightful reviews. Jim’s magic is that he does this for a huge cross-section of our industry. He knows no bounds and always manages to find the time to help without regard for who’s asking.
Jim is still missing. Over the past year I’ve received no papers from Jim. There’s been no advice. I’ve not had anything reviewed by him. And, I’ve not been able to talk to him about projects I’ve been working on. When I attend a conference, I don’t get the usual surprise visits from Jim. It’s been exactly one year and we know no more today than we did a year ago. Jim remains missing. We all miss him deeply.
–jrh
James Hamilton, Windows Live Platform Services
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