12.1815, All: Obituary: Bertrand Ibrahim

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-12-1815. Fri Jul 13 2001. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 12.1815, All: Obituary: Bertrand Ibrahim

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry, Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            Andrew Carnie, U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org):
	Simin Karimi, U. of Arizona
	Terence Langendoen, U. of Arizona

Editors (linguist at linguistlist.org):
	Karen Milligan, WSU 		Naomi Ogasawara, EMU
	Lydia Grebenyova, EMU		Jody Huellmantel, WSU
	James Yuells, WSU		Michael Appleby, EMU
	Marie Klopfenstein, WSU		Ljuba Veselinova, Stockholm U.
	Heather Taylor-Loring, EMU	Dina Kapetangianni, EMU

Software: John Remmers, E. Michigan U. <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
          Gayathri Sriram, E. Michigan U. <gayatri at linguistlist.org>

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.



Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jody at linguistlist.org>

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Fri, 13 Jul 2001 08:29:10 -0700
From:  Gerard Manning <ger at ceolas.org>
Subject:  Obituary: Bertrand Ibrahim

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 13 Jul 2001 08:29:10 -0700
From:  Gerard Manning <ger at ceolas.org>
Subject:  Obituary: Bertrand Ibrahim


	I have some very sad news: On July 3, Bertrand Ibrahim, the
secretary and vice-chair of the Virtual Library council died, in Beirut,
where he was attending a conference. He was just 46 years old.

	Bertrand has been one of the strongest forces behind the
Virtual Library, and will be sorely missed both personally and
professionally. He was one of the very earliest members of the
Virtual Library, starting his VL sections on Visual Languages and
Programming and Tck/Tk back in 1994, when the web was just starting
to develop. He emerged as one of VLs strongest proponents and
architects in 1997, when Arthur Secret left the project and we were
left without a structure. It was Bertrand's guiding principle that we
as members who build the VL should control its operations, and that
the VL should be answerable to each member. To that end he
volunteered for the ad-hoc committee to create a new VL structure and
was unanimously elected it's chair. His vision and work there to
create the VL constitution and bylaws were quite phenomenal. It was
inspiring to see his dedication to creating a truly democratic VL
structure, and to listen to every point of view and strive for
consensus, no matter what it took. In over 300 emails to the
committee, he showed again and again how differences could be
bridged, better solutions made and consensus could be reached. His
dedication to the vision of the VL, to getting it right, and to
listening and trying to accommodate all points of view were truly
memorable. The result was our constitution and bylaws that firmly
place control and ownership of the VL among us, the members.

	After the acceptance of the bylaws, Bertrand was elected
member, secretary and vice-chair of our VL council, where he
continued to strive for excellence and stability in the VL, and has
been one of the main contributors on almost every issue that we have
addressed, from finishing our bylaws to registering the VL as a
real-world entity, to co-ordinating the computing-area VL sections
and much more.

	Bertrand worked as a professor of Computer Science at the
University of Geneva; you can see more on his extensive research and
other activities on his personal home page at
http://cui.unige.ch/eao/www/Bertrand.html

	It was a great pleasure to work with Bertrand, and to learn
from his respect for all and all views. I will sorely miss him, and
he will be very much missed on the council and in the broader VL. He
has left this world far too young, but he did a great deal of good in
his time, not least in the VL, where he promoted and helped realize
the vision of expert volunteers working to build a catalog of
knowledge for the common good of all.

	If anyone would like to share their experiences of
interacting with Bertrand in the VL, please do post to this list. We
(the council) are planning on creating a memorial page to reflect
Bertrand's contributions to the VL, and would very much like to hear
from others as to what Bertrand's legacy is, in memories and actions.

	In closing, let me steal a line from Michael Chapman, who
wished Bertrand what he wished us all at the end of every one of his
emails:

	Peace,

		-Gerard.


_______________________________________________
VL_Announce mailing list: (real_name)s at vlib.org
http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/vl_announce
See the members zone at http://vlib.org/members/ for more details
(userID = vl; password = 'Democracy')

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-12-1815