[PSF-Community] Farewell to Rob Collins

[M.-A. Lemburg]

We would like to share with you the sad news, that Rob Collins has
passed away earlier this month, on November 2nd, after a short but
intense illness.

Many of you may know Rob from the sponsored massage sessions he
regularly ran at EuroPython in recent years and which he continued to
develop, taking them from a single man setup (single threaded process)
to a group of people setup by giving workshops (multiprocessing) and
later on by passing on his skills to more leaders (removing the GIL)
to spread wellness and kindness throughout our conference series:

https://ep2015.europython.eu/conference/talks/sponsored-massage-training-in-aid-of-the-python-software-foundation

His massages regularly raised more than a thousand dollars which were
donated to the Python Software Foundation (PSF) to do even more good.

Rob also gave a lot of thoughtful talks at the EuroPython conferences,
always very cheerful, full of humor and many good insights. Here’s a
selection:

 * EuroPython 2015: DumbDev – eight rules for dumb development
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEOI8y0qHMk

 * EuroPython 2015: Lightning Talk announcing the Python Massage
   Foundation
   https://youtu.be/WmvTfUYJ2Bw?t=1539

 * EuroPython 2013: TDM Test Driven Madness
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj4nwh_VrPM

 * EuroPython 2012: An introduction to his neck and and shoulder
   massages
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itn8W9zI0Wk

 * EuroPython 2011: Pricing products using Python graphs and sets
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9nIBxDXU8

Rob was a true Pythonista from the heart. He will always be remembered
for his humor, great spirit and kindness.

You were such a cheerful person. We will miss you, Rob.

Thank you for all the inspiration,
-–
Your friends from the EuroPython community
http://www.europython-society.org/

Full blog post:
http://www.europython-society.org/post/153253946400/farewell-to-rob-collins