In Memoriam

Patrick Purcell died quickly and peacefully at home in the first week of February, 2007: just a few days before his 78th birthday. The following biography was adapted from the profile on his Imperial College London webpage. We encourage you to send additional information and to talk about Patrick's life and work. Please e-mail information (to improve the biography), photos, or requests to write longer pieces about his professional contribution. Otherwise, please leave comments about what he meant to you or your field. Also, please check out the other posts containing Patrick's wishes, and other Links.

Purcell's work for over four decades has reflected an abiding interest in the application of media technology to various aspects of human affairs, both from the perspectives of the social group and the single personal user.

The current transition to a fully fledged digital infrastructure of information and communication technology provides the impetus for much of Purcell's current research and writing. The underlying impetus informing this work seeks to identify how advances in the technology of the information society may be utilized most constructively in various social and personal situations.

His recent research work has focussed on developments in Social Computing. applications of Digital Media Technology, and the Human/Computer Interface.

His career as an academic researcher has included professorial appointments and/or senior research fellowships in a number of leading academic institutions, including Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, London (1994 - to date), University of Ulster, UK (1990 - 1994), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (1982 - 1990) and the Royal College of Art, London (1964 - 1981). During this time, he has participated as a founding member, in the establishment of four research laboratories, both in the UK and USA.

His publication list extends to over seventy papers and the editing of several books in his research domain. Most recently he edited Networked Neighbourhoods: The Connected Community in Context, which came out in July 2006. Purcell's academic and professional background is interdisciplinary, spanning informatics, design theory and digital media technology.

His professional affiliations are Fellow of the British Computer Society and Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers in the UK. He is, or has been, a member of several advisory publishing boards, including Image & Vision Computing and Design Studies (both Elsevier Science) and the Computer Bulletin (British Computer Society).

Comments

[Helen Kellington (Murray)]

I was saddened to learn of the death of Patrick Purcell. I went to school with Patrick from 1961/2 to 1965 in London and whilst he was very much part of the group he was a stand out, which is supported by the previous comments. I have never forgotten him and googled him a few months ago and we chatted for a while amd reminisced about old school friends and our year of studying Buckminster Fuller with Dr Keith Kritchlow and how stimulating it all was. We all went our separate ways and clearly Patrick's road has been a road of distinction. Patrick is one person in my life that I will think of from time to time and won't ever forget.

[Jacky Hovey]

This is a wonderful site and a fitting tribute to my dear friend Patrick Purcell. We first met during the very early years of the life of the MIT Media Lab. Back then I was employed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), and since DEC was a contributing member to the Media Lab, it was possible - with Patrick as the "tour guide" - to visit the Lab and see all the extraordinary work going on there. I remember well two of the individuals whose names I've seen on this site - Glorianna Davenport and Muriel Cooper. There were so many other marvellous people doing breakthrough research there! One anecdote I recall was Patrick telling me that the Lab folks preferred DEC machines to those supplied by IBM, and that one particular IBM machine had earned the nickname of "Meat-head". Somehow I always had the sneaking suspicion that when IBM people visited, the story would get reversed! I can only imagine incurring his wrath if I'd ever challenged him on that. Thanks to Patrick, and his role as the "Corporate Sponsor Coordinator", it was a great privilege to visit the place in person, and to see over the years what a huge influence it has had on so much of the technology we have in the world today.

Over the years, after Patrick left the Media Lab, we stayed in touch and I would email or call him when I planned to be in London so that we could meet for a meal. In 2001 I learned that his partner Gillian had died, and that loss must have impacted him greatly.

I shall never forget his phone call to me when I was in London on that tragic day of September 11th, 2001, and was delayed several days beyond my planned flight trying to get back to Boston. He was deeply concerned and supportive - offering his flat if I needed a place to stay for those extra days.

The last time I saw Patrick was in the fall of 2005. He had not been well earlier in the year, but told me in an email that he was, as he put it, "alive and kicking and coming to terms with a new situation, where UK citizens plan to murder fellow citizens going about their business." This was shortly after the London tube bombings (July 7, 2005). Many of us with family and friends in London were devastated and terrified of finding out that someone we knew had been hurt or killed.

For me, Patrick was the soul of kindness and a very dear personal friend. His passing is a huge loss, I treasure the memories I have of him, and his presence on this earth made me a better person. My deepest sympathy goes to his family, and to those of you who were close friends, associates and students of his.

My great thanks to Sunny Bains for this website - the posts by Patrick's relatives and friends are deeply moving. Also, to Rick Boardman. When my recent "new year email" to Patrick failed, I googled "Patrick Purcell", and it was via Rick's blog - his remembrance of Patrick - that I learned that this great man had died in 2007. Somehow I can see Patrick smiling. After all, it's yet another example of the "networked neighborhood"... the "connected community".

[Ben H. Davis]

I knew Patrick during my stay at MIT as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies and then as a Research Associate at Project Athena. He was very much the heart of the Media Lab and Visual Language Workshop. We had a lot of discussion about videodiscs and interactive media as he was something of a mentor to all of us trying to use these things for education. He was always interested in a laugh and always happy to let you bring visitors to the Lab. We had a lot of fun in those years (1984-1990) and I will always remember him fondly.

[Stephanie Hogan for Sister Immaculate (Molly) Purcell]

I am posting this comment on behalf of Sr. Immaculate (Molly) Purcell:

"Padraig's death has left a large void in my heart. I will never forget his kindness and thoughtfulness while I lived in London. He visited me frequently and I was always refreshed by his visit. He was the essence of kindness. May his beautiful soul rest in peace."

Aunt Molly is a St. John of God sister and teacher by profession but also Partick's cousin. Molly Purcell moved into Partick's home in the 1930's as a child, to live with his two sisters, mother and father after the untimly death of her own mother. She was brought up as his sister in that respect. After 50 or more years as a teacher and parish worker in London she has resently retired and lives in Kilkenny.

[Sunny Bains]

I thought just working on this site and Patrick's obituary would be enough to make me get through losing Patrick, but it hasn't been. Last week I had a dream that I was helping with some administrative stuff relating to his funeral and bequests, and it was all getting a bit complicated. Then, he walked into the room, looking just like the last time I'd seen him! I was first thrilled, then devastated that I'd caused so many people pain in telling him that he was dead.

Then I woke up. I figured the dream meant I still had stuff left to say about him, so I'm going to try to do that here.

Patrick was a force for good. He saw people's talents. He listened. He made them feel he could achieve what they wanted to achieve. In the time I knew him (2001 onwards) he was the one everyone would turn to when the system was sucking the life out of them and they no longer believed in themselves.

He was also modest. I realized only after he died (while writing his obituary) how little he actually talked about himself. Sure, we knew some things, but little about his work and accomplishments.

And there's no doubt that he appreciated women! Initially it could seem a little intimidating: Patrick would zoom in on any new woman in the group and get their life story (he never forgave me for only giving him a couple of minutes with my mother on their first meeting!) But he really cared about women, was interested in them, could see their spark. For a man in technology to have so many women who cared about him (as you can see here) says how genuine that care and interest was.

To me, Patrick was a friend and a therapist and a cheerleader. Yes, he could sometimes be a bit prickly (especially if I insisted on paying for something!), but that was all trivial stuff. I feel very lonely without him. We all do.

[Jean Agnew]

I first met Patrick and Gillian in 1970 when I married Kenneth Agnew and gained not only a husband, but a great group of friends at the RCA. We all moved around, but we met whenever our paths crossed, sometimes in London, sometimes in Ulster, but not nearly often enough. The year we returned from Ulster, Gillian died, quite without warning. We continued to stay at their flat from to time. Most of her things remained just where she had left them which was curiously comforting – it felt as though she was still living there. Patrick solved his return to self catering with characteristic flair; he timed his evening departures from Imperial to coincide with the moment when Waitrose reduced the prices on the fresh food, sometimes leading his students after the assistant with the re-labelling gun, like seagulls following the plough. He was a wonderful host, providing a whole fridge full of raspberries, strawberries, fruit juices, croissants and exotic honeys for breakfast. We used the flat as a base, meeting for 'happy hour', generally from about 11.30 p.m. (after all those stimulating discussions at Imperial) when he would break out the brandy and we would sit and talk and debate – and you had to sharpen your wits to debate with Patrick. It was irresistible though: he was a terrible tease and an expert at trailing his coat. We often discussed Irish history (my field): he was extremely widely read and knowledgeable and told us how outraged he had felt when he discovered that his school history lessons about the United Irishmen had failed to mention that both Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell were Protestants.

I shall miss his love of debate, his gentle kindness and his wicked wit, but most of all I shall miss the flirting.

[Kenneth Agnew]

Patrick and I have been friends since he joined the RCA Industrial Design Engineering Research Unit in the mid 60s. In short order he found a way into the massive computing resources of the National Physical Laboratory and next brought in computer based architectural research from the Min of Works, complete with team, to be based in our offices. This was followed by the end-to-end trenching of the mews behind our South Kensington building following his acquisition of a land-line from the Atlas computer at Cambridge. Round the clock working was not unusual in the unit but Patrick, busy building his research group, knew the Darwin building night staff better than any of us and set a pattern that he followed all his life.

As the RCA unit dissolved in the late 70s he moved full-time to MIT with its vast resources and frenetic USA work-rate. By the late 80s I was at the University of Ulster helping to create a school of design on the Magee Campus at Derry – add the emergence there of a new Faculty of Informatics and the scene was set was for interdisciplinary research and courses. Following MIT’s labour permit difficulties, it was possible to appoint Patrick to a developmental Professorship at Magee and a group of us, with John McGregor as anchor man, developed a new MSc.

My weekly visits to Derry were greatly enlivened by ‘team lunch’ at the fabled fish restaurant, Reggie’s, and we grew to accept that Patrick never ordered pudding but raided everybody else’s. Our position at the side of the political and personal tensions of a rapidly growing campus gave us a slight feeling of detachment and almost subversiveness –so our lunch gatherings became the ‘Reggiecides’. Despite monastic accommodation in the student residence, Patrick enjoyed good living but was surprisingly abstemious with alcohol. He explained that under-graduate days among the bars of Dublin were filled with joy. His little group, complete with dog, led all the rest, but one particularly hung-over morning it was concluded that it was bad for the dog, and a more temperate regime took over. This supported his custom, almost unknown on the Magee campus, of working in his office until the campus was closed for the night. As elsewhere, it became quickly known among the students that there was some-one with whom to talk through problems after hours. This growing band became known as the ‘grave-yard shift’. Apparently the correct term is now ‘collegiality’.

Patrick was deeply surprised to be told that Ulster professors had to retire on reaching sixty five. This did not inhibit Imperial College London who promptly employed him nominally as visiting professorial research fellow for the rest of his days. A grave-yard shift quickly materialised and one of the sights near mid-night at the local branch of Waitrose was to see this august figure, with a little group of post-grads, trailing the store assistant with the ticket gun as he marked down the prices on the groceries.

Life in South Kensington suited him beautifully since it simplified his access to MIT where he had continuing academic responsibilities. After a late dinner at the Goethe restaurant last September on a delightfully warm evening we went for a walk among the strangely intimate humming, shining town-scape of Imperial College buildings. I remarked that this was his ‘village’, which he liked. I only realised later that for him the MIT Media Labs were just the other side of Gloucester Road tube station and were part of his village. Which underlines the happiness of a unique man who made his whole life in four of the most creative, civilised institutions on the planet. He re-paid them well – and enriched our lives.

Kenneth Agnew

[Brian Reffin Smith]

In about 1975, I presumptuously applied to do a master's degree at the Royal College of Art, in an area between art and science. I remember, at the initial interview, the raised eyebrows and studied sighs of the people from the cultural studies side, but they had roped in Patrick, from the Dept. of Design Research, as a cultural bridge. When I left, it being almost as clear in my mind as theirs that my future did not lie in their hands, Patrick pursued me out into the corridor and sort of half drawled, half hissed, "Why don't you apply to us?" Papers were produced and filled in, and the upshot was 2 years, and later a research fellowship and teaching job, spent in the best department of any art and design school anywhere, the multi-disciplined and polymathic DDR. I don't think Patrick recognised something in me that the others had missed, rather that he wanted to share the amazing possibilities of that department with someone who just might learn to appreciate them. I did, and thank him for that.

[Brian Wyvill]

I had to laugh when I read Sebastian Macmillan's comment about Patrick and the Arpanet. I had exactly the same experience in 1976. There was Patrick, very late at night while his colleagues in the US were at the end of their working day. When Patrick told me he was talking to the US over his ancient teletype, I had similar thoughts, 'why doesn't he just phone them?'

After spending the last 25 years in Canada I was pleased to run into Patrick at Siggraph a few years ago. He was talking about a party he had been to the previous evening where he had met with a bunch of teenagers talking about their email accounts. One of them asked, "When did you get an email account, grandpa?" "In 1973(?)" Patrick replied and the kids left laughing and of course not believing him! You are right, Sebastian, he was way ahead of his time!

[Steve Little]

I met Patrick through the Design Research Society, in the early seventies and when I was considering forsaking architectural practice for the DDR doctoral programme at the end of 1980 he was strongly encouraging.

Although he was already at MIT by the time I completed my studies he was keeping in touch with the RCA through first generation e-mail which involved, at our end, a miraculous device combining an acoustic coupler for the telephone handset, a keyboard and a thermal printer.

My first full-time academic post was in Australia, and I visited Patrick in Boston en route, enjoying his hospitality and a very valuable contextualisation of the work of the Media Lab. The on-line video clip is very much of that period. I have strong memories of Patrick's gigantic Pontiac, Boston sea food and the difficulty of calibrating a first generation touch-sensitive screen when severely jet-lagged.

We remained in touch, and a late afternoon e-mail from Brisbane inevitably got a response next morning, thanks to the time zones and Patrick's generosity with his time. Miraculous at the time in terms of technology, still noteworthy in terms of collegiality.

[Carol Strohecker]

Patrick was exceptionally open-minded and a model for what it means to listen. I will always be grateful for his mentoring and friendship.

[Cristina Romano]

I've known Patrick for few years now and I remember him to be an exquisite gentleman and having always a kind word and a smile whenever meeting him around College. A proper Irishman at heart, he as jolly and good company. Will miss you, Patrick!

[Anthony Finkelstein]

I was saddened to hear of Patrick's death. Patrick was my first PhD supervisor at the RCA though he departed soon afterwards to the USA. I visited him on a couple of occasions at MIT and subsequently when I joined IC as a member of staff we used to bump into each other regularly. I enjoyed his company and valued his advice. It is perhaps worth remembering just what extraordinary pioneers he, Bruce Archer and Richard Langdon actually were. The work done at the RCA, the ideas formulated and the synthesis created were astonishingly prescient. Patrick will be missed.

[Murray Shanahan]

I first met Patrick in 1998 when I joined the Dept. of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, where we were both members of the Intelligent and Interactive Systems group. But it was only in the last four years or so that we really got to know each other, both being members of a small crowd of regular sushi-goers in the evenings. It was always a great pleasure to have Patrick's company. I especially admired the way he straddled the arts and the sciences, something that was reflected in the eloquence and breadth of his conversation.

Patrick also had a terrific sense of humour. I sometimes teased him that 'Purcell' was a very English name for an Irish republican. "You should have a proper Irish name like 'Shanahan'", I would say - ironically, as I was born and brought up in England. But he could always give as good as he got in these little exchanges.

Patrick led a varied life that brought him into contact with many interesting figures. One anecdote especially sticks in my mind. When he was a small boy, he was once presented to Maud Gonne, the muse of W.B.Yeats and a prominent figure in Irish politics. She would have been an elderly lady at the time, but to little Patrick she was "a very imposing presence" towering over him.

Patrick's death came as a great shock to me, as he was always very active and seemed in such good health. I will miss him very much.

[Sebastian Macmillan]

Patrick was at the Department of Design Research at the RCA in the seventies when I went there as a young architect to do my PhD. He had a basement room completely lined with books, and a very small window. And he had a computer terminal connected up to the Arpanet. He told me very proudly that he could send instant electronic text messages to colleagues in the US who would receive them as soon as they switched on their computer. And I thought to myself, though I didn't say so, 'what possible use could that ever be?' He was way ahead of his time.

[Bob Spence]

The pursuit of research into Human-computer Interaction can be a lonely activity at Imperial College. So when I realised that Patrick Purcell was approaching retirement from his appointment in Northern Ireland I immediately suggested to the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Imperial that he be invited to be a Visiting Professor. A very selfish act, no doubt, but one I have never regretted and one whose benefit to a wide variety of scholars is placed clearly in evidence by the comments collected here. I have personally benefited from the intellectual rigour of Patrick’s discussions and from the personal qualities so elegantly reflected upon by others.

Probably the last time he ventured from his flat near Gloucester Road was to meet me for dinner at a local restaurant opposite the College. On this occasion the intellectual rigour was undiminished, as was his typical gentle banter with the waiters and waitresses. The only thing missing was his typical request to the waitress - ‘and two spoons’ - once his dinner companion had ordered dessert. Retrospectively I was happy that all those qualities rightly praised by others in this memorial site were undiminished to the end.

[Christine Kapteijn]

I was sad to hear that Patrick died but happy that he did not suffer a long and debilitating illness. I met Patrick at the RCA where in the early 80s I undertook an MA in Cultural History supervised by Prof C Frayling. Right from the start Patrick and I enjoyed robust discussions, especially about religion (he professed to believe in a UCA: Unidentified Causal Agent), the incompatibility between art and science, art being aspirational, science focusing on the material world. I never forget Patrick getting so angry with me that he left me standing with my bike in one hand, while he stomped off across Exhibition Road.

Moments like these cemented our mutual affection, and Patrick was present at our wedding. Having lost touch due to family commitments and the daily pressures of survival, apart from exchanging the yearly Christmas card or e-mail, we met up again a few years ago, and resumed where we left off.

His last and recent gift to me was a visit to the Holbein exhibition followed by a brutally honest assesment of how I should go about getting to where I wanted to be. Thank you Patrick, all was much appreciated, rest in peace!

[Sunil Rao]

Patrick was, as he has been to generations, a great mentor and friend to me, and like everybody here, I must join the chorus of those who will miss him.

I got to know Patrick on joining the Imperial IIS lab in 2002, though I had first noticed his distinctive and presence around college earlier as an undergrad. Patrick was very quick to erase any image I might have carried over from those days of him as a stuffy and forbidding old prof.

His commitment to maintaining a collegiate spirit and atmosphere in the group always came across very strongly. Even those late-night sessions fixing knotty issues with his near-baroque vintage computer setup always ended in good long discussions about everything under the sun... from particular research problems to more general issues touching on any of his wide array of interests. He had his way of making us students feel he was genuinely interested in our work and how we presented it, going far beyond normal ordinary commiseration or encouragement or criticism when requested. I'll never forget his repeated insistence at each of our recent conversations that he simply had to see my draft thesis when I had something to show him.

Then there were the little touches, the witty conversation, his mischievous nature and eye for aesthetics.. it only struck me how carefully cultivated the ambience of messy (though never shabby) homeliness in his old office had been when he shifted to a shared room: Patrick had placed everything in that environment from the salvaged heavy old furniture to the soft lighting and quiet music to stimulate thought in comfort into the late hours as the sun set outside over the sweeping west London views. It was a great environment for any of us to be welcomed into, to have stimulating discussions in, and to be able to leave feeling privileged at having gained a little something in insight, encouragement and confidence, every time.

What a legend.

[David Randell]

I was very saddened to hear the news about Patrick, and all I can do is reiterate what many have already said here, that I will miss him very much.

He was quite an extraordinary man, a great conversationalist, astute and with a gentle but wicked sense of humor. Perhaps the best time to see Patrick in action was during lunch in Imperial's SCR where several of us would regularly meet and for a follow up coffee in E&EE's cafe on the ground floor. In particular I vividly remember his story about dealing with his bank and sense of outrage on finding out that he was paying more as a 'preferential' customer without being consulted on the matter. I must admit as the story and unfolded and responding to his feigned sense of outrage I laughed, but my timing could have been better. He paused and turned to me and said: "I'll let you know when to laugh!" He then tried to maintain a disapproving look, but it soon dissolved with a broad grin, before he returned to the story...

He was as I said a great conversationalist and had a quite extraordinary breadth of knowledge - even covering Gnosticism, as I was to find out. He embodied that rare quality one sometimes comes across of someone with a warm and compassionate heart and sharp intellect. He took a genuine interest in people, and had a gift of bringing out the best in them.

On my last day at Imperial College in November 2006, we said our farewells on the 10th floor in E&EE. My last abiding memory of him was that characteristic wobble in his walk as he returned to his office. He will, I know, be sorely missed by many. I felt privileged to have known him.

[David & Dallas Herbert]

For the sixteen years we have known Patrick Purcell, he was always kind, helpful and great company. He was the best friend and neighbour one could have had. He is sorely missed.

[Stephanie Hogan]

PAP we will miss you so very much.
Padraig was my Uncle, confident, mentor and ultimatly a best friend. Over the years and after the passing of my father, he asserted himself more profoundly in the lives of 'The Family' at his homeplace in Kilkenny.

What PAP meant to me? As this message is being written in the early days after his passing, I am finding it hard to express, and indeed order my thoughts at this early stage. I loved him dearly and though his passing was just as he would have had it, perhaps it is myself who is not ready to say goodbye, just yet.

Though PAP mentored me through my academic life, it was at home and as family where perhaps my insights are relevant. (Though there are some intersting stories to tell on that subject!)
Here goes:

-As we all know, he was adaptable, curious and very very bold. He had such a great sense of divilment and drew great fun from interacting with the youngest members of the family. They were all so tickled by his humour and interest in them as budding intellectuals.

-He was ridiciously independent and especially hated being made a fuss over. His sister, my mother Maire, is exactly the same..they're banter was the stuff of the finest comedy script!

-A robust conversationalist, PAP was an avid member of late night/early morning family 'discussions'(often miconstrued as arguments to outsiders!).

Topics traditionally varied from areas of exitentialism to the hidiousness of pergatory to 'what is culture'(a hot favourite)and on to the merits of brandy-flaming pudding (flambe), all of which may (and often were)discussed before lunchtime!

-He had a enormous sense of justice and instilled this over-arching sense of humanity into those he had influence upon.

-At home too he had an alergic reacion to vagueness which, often saw he and I in quite lively 'discussions'(there's that word again) on issues of his understanding or was it my definition of certain things!

Most remarkable pehaps was that he could almost always see my side of the arguement. He remained incredibly open minded throughout his life.

I feel altogether better having read through this memoriam and as a family we are gathering great comfort by reading and learning about other areas Padraig's life.

To PAP...Thank you for those words of support, kindness and white-lies which all helped me through my theses.
But most of all, you meant so very much to me, I miss you.

[Leila Shepherd]

Patrick had the humanity and the heart to spot a harrowed look on my face as I stood with him in a crowded lift one day back in 2004. We got talking and he understood that I was facing my first major challenge as a PhD student - writing that first journal paper. He volunteered to read my work, and despite it not being his field, gave me insightful feedback and guidance. He has been a huge encouragement to me ever since. I am only now realising just how much that has meant.

Patrick, thank you for your kindness, your unique charm, your conversation and your time.. and for your downright disgust when I considered "selling myself" to a law firm! What a singular pleasure it was to spend time in your company.

[Amar Parvez]

I met Patrick in September 2006 where he was the academic supervisor to our group for an MSc module in Suffolk.
Right from the off, I couldnt help but realise how quick, sharp and on the ball Patrick was. Our first submission was a project plan which Patrick proceeded to tear to shreds.
We didnt get disheartened but realised the high standards that Patrick expected from his students.
Our work on the module was tireless and mainly fueled out of fear of being 'Purcell'ised by Patrick.
We all received very good marks just days after Patrick passed away.
He made an impact on me for the short space time that I came in contact with him and understood the nature of academia and research methodologies. He will be missed by Team 2 of Future Opportunities.

[Stephanie Pau]

I met Patrick one late night when I was doing Summer Research (2002) with the IIS group at Imperial College, and yeah, he is always in till late!

Although I now work in a commercial sector that is different to the one he introduced, I have not forgotten about the wonderful world of social computing, the Media Lab and the like. He was very kind and generous with his time and advice (on projects and on life), and was more like my tutor in my undergraduate days. He had an appreciation for a wide range of subjects and was always interesting to talk to. I think my words cannot express enough gratitude for all that.

Thank you, Patrick.

[Gillian Crampton Smith]

Though I was at the Royal College of Art, it was well after Patrick had moved to Cambridge, so it was at the Media Lab that I first met him. He was always generous with his time when I visited and through him I learned much of the history of the Lab. When he returned to South Kensington we would meet up as he was always interested in the intersection of the arts and technology and continued to maintain a lively interest in what we were doing at the RCA. He was charming and fun, and, as others have attested, always kind and helpful, particularly to students. He will be sorely missed.