.jpg)
Today I learned of
sad news that a good friend of mine from the world of SharePoint has sadly
passed away. Firstly and most importantly I'd like to pass on my thoughts and
condolences to Dave's family.
I knew of Dave via
Twitter and we started to share things in common in our work as we'd blog about
similar types of things. Dave was a well-respected MVP who was regularly on
webcasts and blogging he became someone I looked up to and respected for talking
to someone who was unproven at the time in the community - I salute you for
that Dave!
After a few months
of exchanging messages on Twitter I finally got to meet the man that was Dave
Coleman at a SharePoint Saturday however I really got to know Dave at a
SharePoint Conference in Anaheim back in 2011. After every session we'd meet
outside the front of the conference centre and Dave would always be at the same
spot - later to be named 'Dave's Ashtray' on foursquare and his was proud to be
the mayor! I further recall at one of the events held at Disney Land a group of
us we're sitting having a beer when I looked round and Dave was choking to
which I became very concerned. I asked 'Dave are you ok?' to which halfway
through his choking fit he turned and said 'your funny you are!' and I didn’t
realise I said anything funny but it tickled him.
Since the conference
Dave and I had stayed in touch and in February of this year when I heard of his
illness I popped in to see him (ironic that a man who didn’t like the seaside
lived within two minutes of Bournemouth Pier), little did I know that this was
going to be the last time. I recently sent him a message on Facebook asking how
he was and he replied saying he was ok, however more recently I'd noticed that
he wasn’t very active on social media channels and again sent him a message and
no reply. I asked another friend if they knew anything and they told me he was
in hospital and I was about to send Sue his wife a message to say hello and was
thinking about you as I went to do this I saw my Facebook feed and sadly I was
too late.
Dave, you were a
true gent who I thoroughly enjoyed the company of. You have inspired me in my
career and I can honestly say your inspiration has helped me be where I am
today. Rest in peace Dave the world has lost a great man.
