[HOT] Tom Taylor passed away Dec. 24th, 2015 - Goodbye Tom

[Russell Deffner]

Dear HOT Community,

I first interacted with Tom via this email list and our IRC channel around the beginning of April when he jumped on the chance to help as we were in the process of 're-launching' the Training Working Group and specifically expressed interest in the development of LearnOSM. When we hit a bit of a stumbling block in our schedules and the group was without a chair for the first meeting we had attempted since the break for the HOT Summit, Tom stepped right up to lead the group through the agenda and quickly convinced me that the group was probably in better hands with Tom. Ever since, he has been key to the continuous progress and recent accomplishments of the TWG as well as many other contributions Tom has made to HOT and OSM.

As Suzan highlights, the best part of having Tom in our community was his personal openness; even when the topic/times were tough there was always a friendly and encouraging manner that I will remember most,

In memory,
=Russ

Russell Deffner
Russell.Deffner at hotosm.org
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)

-----Original Message-----
From: Suzan Reed [mailto:suzan at suzanreed.com] 
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2015 12:02 PM
To: hot at openstreetmap.org
Subject: [HOT] Tom Taylor passed away Dec. 24th, 2015 - Goodbye Tom

Dear Friends, 

Last night I learned our dear friend and tireless contributor Tom Taylor passed away December 24th. 

Tom was the Chair of the LearnOSM Working Group where I met him. He was a mentor to me as a newcomer to the group, and always so respectful. He shared openly about his illness and treatments, and talked about his family in a way that made me feel a real part of his life. He’d mentioned recently he was learning to cook because his wife was ill, and made some light humor about it that made me smile. He also said he was not well, more than before. Tom was always so open about his illness but it’s always heart wrenching when someone you care for is truly gone. 

Tom interacted with many of us in the HOT community. It would be a fitting tribute to him if we all shared our memories and lauded his memory with his many contributions to the humanitarian work we do through mapping. 

Tom caught my heart and my respect. I will miss him very much. 

Suzan Reed


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