John Vlissides

If you're serious about software engineering, you've probably read (or at least heard of) Design Patterns. John Vlissides, one of (or in his words "#4 of") the "Gang of Four" who wrote the extremely influential book, passed away on Thanksgiving Day after a long battle with a brain tumor. Simply by looking at his work in Design Patterns and his other books, it is obvious that the software community has suffered a great loss. Spending a few moments reading the memories from those lucky enough to have known him personally shows the loss to be more than just that of "a respected author in the field" but also a caring and generous person who was a bright and positive influence to all around him.

From Ralph Johnson's blog entry about John: "John led by serving. He did the parts that other people didn't want to do, and kept us in line by his attention to detail. He was always upbeat and expected to find a solution to any problem. Any group that included him was the better for it."

While I didn't know him personally, I know my projects are better for the things I learned from his books. Thanks and farewell to a teacher I never met.

Read more:
Ralph Johnson's entry about John
WikiWikiWeb entry about John containing many memories from those who knew him