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Dear friends,
My close friend and our web site's systems administrator, Kevin Martin, died yesterday of a heart attack. Most of you knew Kevin as Digger, a beloved administrator here on our forums.
Kevin died unexpectedly of a heart attack during treatment of his newly-diagnosed colon cancer. His wife Laura was with him.
And while I'm told that in some ways, this may be a blessing in disguise with colon cancer and chemotherapy is being the terrible ordeal that it is, I also know that Kevin was definitely not ready to leave us.
Kevin was paid to manage our servers, but all his work on our forum was completely volunteer. I know that Kevin loved you guys and that he made some of his best friendships here on the site. And although I don't know that much about him on a personal level, I do know that through you, Kevin discovered a social side of himself that had perhaps before been a little underdeveloped. More of a computer person, Kevin was never a bodybuilder, but I am told that as he influenced the forums, the forums had influenced him too - helping him lose some significant weight and get in better shape.
The Elite Fitness business is such an adventure and Kevin and I had plenty of adventures over the last eight years. And I have so many wonderful memories of him. Kevin was instrumental in moving our servers to Canada from New York so we could provide you with increased privacy. Kevin loved comic books and named each of our servers after one of the X-Men. There was the time we had to meet with the Secret Service. The time Kevin returned a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate to me because he thought Amazon was guilty of spamming and could not support them. And the time he returned to me a $100 gift certificate to Starbucks because he thought I had sent it to get him to work more on the EliteFitness.com account. And the times, it happened twice, when he tried to go to Vancouver to work locally on our servers and was stopped at the border and made to return to the US because he was bringing too many RAM chips with him. There was also the time when he was in Vancouver and I was concerned that the hotel I put him in would be to his liking. Kevin was only concerned that there be a fast, unlimited Internet connection for him to use. And everyone who knew him knew that he hated to talk on the phone.
Kevin helped our team make so many of my crazy ideas possible without ever being judgmental. Kevin took what we do here and what this site stands for as seriously as I do - as if he too was an owner. And Kevin had one of the strongest senses of fairness and ethics of anyone I have ever known.
Kevin was one of those people who I just assumed would always be there for us and someone I never thought the community would be without. He loved his work and he was so good at it that it never occurred to me that we would ever have to try to run this site without him. When we launched Elite Fitness in 1996, we had one server and I could manage a lot of it myself. But since then, the site has grown so much, we have 10 or so servers, and managing them is far beyond my abilities. Kevin ran our systems and made all the magic here seem effortless.
I have known Kevin since 2001. And he has left an amazing legacy here.
About two weeks ago, Kevin sent me the following email.
I got this email right after our hugely successful upgrade to the forums - something we never could have done without Kevin's help. Since I got Kevin's email, I have been thinking of how to tell him how much he meant to me and to the site and to the forums and to our members. But, I waited to tell him how much he meant to me because I was scared and because I wanted to tell him how I felt in just the right way, and because I thought I had plenty of time. And now, I've lost the opportunity and I won't ever have it again. But it may make me feel a little bit better to share what I might have said with you.
Kevin, my life is fuller today and I am a better person because you became a part of it. Our thriving community would not be at all like it is today had you not been a part of it. Your legacy here is tremendous. And I will be forever sorry that I did not have the chance to tell you goodbye. I already miss you terribly.
Cards or gifts in memory of Kevin can be sent to his wife at the following address:
Laura McCarthy
c/o Brass Cannon
P.O. Box 82783
Portland, OR 97282
Please note, since this is a PO Box, you may only send to this address using the US Postal Service, no UPS, no FedEx.
Your in sport,
George
My close friend and our web site's systems administrator, Kevin Martin, died yesterday of a heart attack. Most of you knew Kevin as Digger, a beloved administrator here on our forums.
Kevin died unexpectedly of a heart attack during treatment of his newly-diagnosed colon cancer. His wife Laura was with him.
And while I'm told that in some ways, this may be a blessing in disguise with colon cancer and chemotherapy is being the terrible ordeal that it is, I also know that Kevin was definitely not ready to leave us.
Kevin was paid to manage our servers, but all his work on our forum was completely volunteer. I know that Kevin loved you guys and that he made some of his best friendships here on the site. And although I don't know that much about him on a personal level, I do know that through you, Kevin discovered a social side of himself that had perhaps before been a little underdeveloped. More of a computer person, Kevin was never a bodybuilder, but I am told that as he influenced the forums, the forums had influenced him too - helping him lose some significant weight and get in better shape.
The Elite Fitness business is such an adventure and Kevin and I had plenty of adventures over the last eight years. And I have so many wonderful memories of him. Kevin was instrumental in moving our servers to Canada from New York so we could provide you with increased privacy. Kevin loved comic books and named each of our servers after one of the X-Men. There was the time we had to meet with the Secret Service. The time Kevin returned a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate to me because he thought Amazon was guilty of spamming and could not support them. And the time he returned to me a $100 gift certificate to Starbucks because he thought I had sent it to get him to work more on the EliteFitness.com account. And the times, it happened twice, when he tried to go to Vancouver to work locally on our servers and was stopped at the border and made to return to the US because he was bringing too many RAM chips with him. There was also the time when he was in Vancouver and I was concerned that the hotel I put him in would be to his liking. Kevin was only concerned that there be a fast, unlimited Internet connection for him to use. And everyone who knew him knew that he hated to talk on the phone.
Kevin helped our team make so many of my crazy ideas possible without ever being judgmental. Kevin took what we do here and what this site stands for as seriously as I do - as if he too was an owner. And Kevin had one of the strongest senses of fairness and ethics of anyone I have ever known.
Kevin was one of those people who I just assumed would always be there for us and someone I never thought the community would be without. He loved his work and he was so good at it that it never occurred to me that we would ever have to try to run this site without him. When we launched Elite Fitness in 1996, we had one server and I could manage a lot of it myself. But since then, the site has grown so much, we have 10 or so servers, and managing them is far beyond my abilities. Kevin ran our systems and made all the magic here seem effortless.
I have known Kevin since 2001. And he has left an amazing legacy here.
About two weeks ago, Kevin sent me the following email.
I got this email right after our hugely successful upgrade to the forums - something we never could have done without Kevin's help. Since I got Kevin's email, I have been thinking of how to tell him how much he meant to me and to the site and to the forums and to our members. But, I waited to tell him how much he meant to me because I was scared and because I wanted to tell him how I felt in just the right way, and because I thought I had plenty of time. And now, I've lost the opportunity and I won't ever have it again. But it may make me feel a little bit better to share what I might have said with you.
Kevin, my life is fuller today and I am a better person because you became a part of it. Our thriving community would not be at all like it is today had you not been a part of it. Your legacy here is tremendous. And I will be forever sorry that I did not have the chance to tell you goodbye. I already miss you terribly.
Cards or gifts in memory of Kevin can be sent to his wife at the following address:
Laura McCarthy
c/o Brass Cannon
P.O. Box 82783
Portland, OR 97282
Please note, since this is a PO Box, you may only send to this address using the US Postal Service, no UPS, no FedEx.
Your in sport,
George
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RIP Digger
Maybe peace be upon him. Pics of him please, if possible. He was a good guy. How old was he?
