It’s funny how people affect your life without you knowing it. It’s only when their absence is felt that you realise what they meant to you. Eric Dybsand passed away on April 15, 2004. I learnt of it today. All I knew of him was from his articles that I’d occasionally come across. I admired him, but I hadn’t really interacted with him.

Eric was a freelance computer game AI consultant, one of the best in the field. But he was much more than that. Here’s what people think about him (from In Memory of Eric Dybsand) –

“Eric was the most humble man I ever met. He always went out of his way to help you out. I never saw him in a bad mood, even on a Monday morning.“

“He didn’t judge me on what I had done or not done in the past. He appreciated me for what he thought I COULD do. When he introduced me to people, he would talk about me in terms I felt I didn’t deserve. At one point, I told him he didn’t need to BS about me like that to people; that it was a little embarrassing for him to trump me up like that. He simply looked me in the eye and said, I don’t do that. If I tell it to people, that means I think it’s true. I began to realize that was the way he treated everyone. This is a rare gift in people that they can truly inspire people to believe in themselves.“

“That was the thing I’ll remember best about Eric – his ability to meet new people and instantly make them feel like they belong.“

“My only regret for Eric is that he was such a modest person. I fear that too many people in this industry will never realize that he is gone, not because his contributions won’t be missed, but because he was always very reluctant to take credit for many of the things he did. As a result many of the people’s lives he has affected over the years may not ever realize the effect he made.“

“My spouse, Neil Kirby, along with Steve Woodcock, has been presenting with Eric at CGDC for a long time. From hearing about the preparations for the roundtables, and then about the presentations themselves, I had a very favorable impression of Eric. Neil usually returns from the conference on a high, in no small part due to the fun he has with Eric and Steve. Yet a few years ago, Neil returned a bit subdued. Eric had taken him aside and told him about his health problems. A heart transplant would solve most of the problems, but Eric wouldn’t even apply to be on the waiting list. He had no children, no spouse, no one dependent on him, so he felt that he shouldn’t take a heart from someone who needed it more than he did. That selfless act still amazes me.

The Biblical psalmist begs, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O Lord.’ Eric may have needed better cardiac muscles, better blood vessels, but there are few hearts cleaner and better.“

Eric Dybsand, here’s a salute from me! May you continue to inspire AI developers around the world, not just to be better programmers, but better people.