It’s hard to know where to begin in sharing my thoughts about Michael Sperberg-McQueen. His effects on my personal and professional life were amazingly positive, and remarkably profound.

A quote from “World Without End” by Laurie Anderson:

East. The edge of the world
West. Those who came before me
When my father died we put him in the ground
When my father died it was like a whole library
Burned down
World without end
Remember me

Losing Michael is indeed as though an entire library burned down.

Ruminations: Michael was a true intellectual, one of the kindest and most sincere people I’ve ever known, had an infectious sense of humor, and was someone I will always be deeply thankful to call a friend.

One short snippet of many episodes we shared:
Some years ago, the W3C XML groups met at the University of Queensland near Brisbane. Michael and I got little apartment rooms near the river, and went shopping for breakfast for the week. We bought fresh fruit, dense whole wheat bread, vegemite, and grape jelly which we had every morning, both of us relishing it because it was both delicious and unusual. After breakfast, we would walk down to the river and take the water taxi up to UQ for our meetings. The water taxi satisfied two requirements for Michael: It was fun, and it was public transportation. Michael loved taking the bus or public transport wherever we happened to be.

I can’t express how much I’m going to miss my friend. He was so important in my life, as he was in many lives.