Federico Rojas: The father of the father of Engadget
I've never written much about my personal life in the three years, three months, and two weeks since I started Engadget, but for this Father's Day I wanted to talk about the person who inspired my love of technology: my father Federico Rojas, who passed away very unexpectedly this past Wednesday.
My father wasn't a exactly a geek -- he was just a physician whose interests ranged far beyond medicine -- but he was most definitely a classic early adopter when it came to anything related to electronics, and I remember being in awe as a young boy whenever he'd bring home his latest discovery. Whether it was an 8-bit computer, an HDTV, a Laser Disc player (and then a DVD player), a surround sound system, etc, while I was growing up he was always consistently ahead of the curve and constantly wowing me with whatever new toy he was installing.
[That's my dad at right, in a picture from 1979 or 1980. I'm there on the left, my brother is on the right.]
One of my earliest memories of my father and technology dates back to 1980 when he bought a VCR. The VCR he'd purchased was a boxy, clunky affair with a wired remote, but we were all amazed that we could just watch a movie anytime we wanted, as many times as we wanted. At least when we were able to find videos to play on it. There was no such thing as a video store back then (at least not in Merced, California, where I grew up), but I remember vividly the first two VHS tapes he bought: Alien and Blazing Saddles, neither of which I was allowed to watch at the time. One day my dad brought home a copy of Empire Strikes Back way before it was officially released. I don't know where he got it from, but I do remember that we had so many people over to watch it that my dad split the signal from the VCR and set up a second feed on a TV in another room just for the kids. It seemed like magic to me that you could even do something like that.
Early the next year I had my tonsils removed and had to miss about two weeks of school. To help me pass the time my dad did what any responsible parent would do: he bought me an Atari 2600, which instantly made me the most popular kid in the neighborhood.
My father never took much interest in gaming -- he thought it was a little frivolous, if harmless. He was interested in computing, so not long after buying me the 2600 he bought an Atari 400 (and then later an Atari 800) for the family and then started to teach himself BASIC. My dad was never much of a programmer -- the only application I ever remember him creating was a very simple racing game -- but around this time he did take me along to a few meetings of the local computer enthusiasts group he belonged to.
From then on there wasn't a time when we didn't have a computer in the house. He realized pretty early on that computers were going to be the future and when I was about ten years old I remember him telling me one day that I needed to stop playing King's Quest and get better at using MS-DOS.
If anything, though, my father was an A/V guy at heart. He was an audiophile who used to tell me stories about how he'd been so obsessed with music that when he was a teenager he installed a portable turntable into the family car so they could listen to 45s on the road, a plan which backfired not because the needle would constantly skip (which it did), but because one day he parked the car in the sun and accidentally melted all of his favorite records. His quest for audio perfection led him to buy the first CD player sold in the US (the Sony CDP-101, which I actually found in a stack of old A/V components here in his house) and immediately started building a collection of CD's that numbers somewhere around 30,000 today. He did his best to get me hooked as well, and for my 13th birthday he gave me a Sony D-88 Pocket Discman, which was designed primarily for playing 3-inch CD-singles.
[Pictured at right: my dad in 1985 with the A/V rig he had set up in his bedroom. Note the Pioneer LaserDisc player at the bottom with the Sony CDP-101 just above it.]
As he got older it became more difficult for my father to keep up with the latest technology -- he just never got totally comfortable with spending time online -- but he was a lifelong photographer who dived right into the digital revolution, picking up one of the first digital Canon digital SLRs and converting our family room into a digital photography workshop, complete with a large-format Epson printer that he used for giant prints he sold to corporate clients. He loved being able to edit and correct his photos using a computer rather than a darkroom, and he spent hours scanning and organizing the tens of thousands of slides and negatives he had from before he made the switch to digital.
My father instilled me in his love for technology, but the most important things I learned from him have nothing to do with gadgets. Even though he loved gadgets and electronics, he never made them his life; they were just tools to make life easier or more enjoyable and were never a substitute for the friends, family, and patients that he always put first. (He was a fierce advocate for his patients; in all his years as an obstetrician he delivered almost 8,000 infants and never lost a single mother.)
What always amazed me about him was how multifaceted he was. He was an intellectually curious physician living in a small town who had traveled the world, read at least a book a week up until he died, could continually kick my ass in Scrabble even though he didn't learn English until he was 23, and knew practically everything there was to know about classical music, Spanish wines, and French cinema. All I wanted to be when I grew up was as smart as my dad.
I knew that on some level I disappointed him when I decided not to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor. He never really put much pressure on me to go to medical school or anything, but he did express his hope that I'd love medicine as much as he did. It took me a few years, but when I did finally figure out that I wanted to write about technology for a living he was tremendously supportive, and I remember how he'd always ask for extra copies of Red Herring so that he could send them to his brothers in South America. And when he told me that one of his patients had asked him if he was related to me, I knew he was proud of what I was doing -- and to show it he even started asking me for advice about what gadgets to buy.
It's difficult for me to write this. I've never shared much of my personal life on the site, mainly because I know that all of you read Engadget for the gadgets, not to hear me (or anyone else) whine about the details of what they did that day. But I also know that there wouldn't be an Engadget without my father -- and not just because he inspired my passion for technology, or that it's always been his dry, irreverent sense of humor that I've tried to emulate in my writing. He was the person who I turned to when I was wrestling with the decision to quit Gizmodo and start all over again with a new site, and he gave me the push in the right direction I needed.
My father grew up in an impoverished developing country where the only ticket out of poverty was to get an advanced degree and get a "safe" job as a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, so it was a big deal for me when he said that I needed to take a risk and toss everything aside to start Engadget. When I was home for Christmas in 2003 we stayed up late almost every night talking, and he gave me the confidence I needed to take the plunge and create the site when I was terrified about taking a chance on something that might fail. Even though he had worked all his life for the kind of financial security he never had growing up, he also believed that you should never spend a second of your life doing something you didn't care about, and he knew how much I loved blogging. He saw potential in me that I didn't see in myself.
That's why one of the happiest moments in my life was when he was able to come to an Engadget reader meetup in San Francisco. It meant a lot to me for him to see how successful Engadget had become, and it was so gratifying seeing him geek out with our readers, showing off his Canon EOS 5D to a fellow photographer and talking about and playing with all the gadgets on display like everyone else.
So maybe it's not all that surprising that this past Sunday the very last conversation I had with my father -- just three days before his untimely death -- was about gadgets. He wanted to tell me about the new HDMI-enabled A/V receiver he'd just installed and about how this new universal remote he'd bought wasn't working properly. He even wanted some insider info on whether he should buy a replacement or whether there was a new version that wasn't announced yet that he should wait for. I advised him to wait, and promised that when I was back home in California next month I'd help him get everything set up.
I expected I'd spend this Father's Day on the phone with him, maybe talking about the new two megapixel cameraphone he was using for casual photos (he'd just bought a 1GB microSD card for storing more pictures on the go) and my upcoming wedding that is now just six weeks away. Instead I'm spending it in his home, surrounded by his family and friends, wishing that I had one last chance to help him troubleshoot his Sonos, or watch Da Ali G Show with him, or sit at his computer while he showed me photos from his last trip, or talk about what it was like growing up in Peru (he had so many amazing stories which I'd love to hear him tell again). I'll never have a chance to do any of that again, but I'm beyond grateful for the 32 years I was able to spend with him.
My father was an intensely private person who'd probably be embarrassed that I'm even talking about him here, but he was a good, honest, highly principled man who did everything he could to give his family a life that was better than the one he'd had growing up in Peru -- and the world deserves to know it. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to live up to the example he set for me. Thanks for letting me share this with you.
My father wasn't a exactly a geek -- he was just a physician whose interests ranged far beyond medicine -- but he was most definitely a classic early adopter when it came to anything related to electronics, and I remember being in awe as a young boy whenever he'd bring home his latest discovery. Whether it was an 8-bit computer, an HDTV, a Laser Disc player (and then a DVD player), a surround sound system, etc, while I was growing up he was always consistently ahead of the curve and constantly wowing me with whatever new toy he was installing.
[That's my dad at right, in a picture from 1979 or 1980. I'm there on the left, my brother is on the right.]
One of my earliest memories of my father and technology dates back to 1980 when he bought a VCR. The VCR he'd purchased was a boxy, clunky affair with a wired remote, but we were all amazed that we could just watch a movie anytime we wanted, as many times as we wanted. At least when we were able to find videos to play on it. There was no such thing as a video store back then (at least not in Merced, California, where I grew up), but I remember vividly the first two VHS tapes he bought: Alien and Blazing Saddles, neither of which I was allowed to watch at the time. One day my dad brought home a copy of Empire Strikes Back way before it was officially released. I don't know where he got it from, but I do remember that we had so many people over to watch it that my dad split the signal from the VCR and set up a second feed on a TV in another room just for the kids. It seemed like magic to me that you could even do something like that. Early the next year I had my tonsils removed and had to miss about two weeks of school. To help me pass the time my dad did what any responsible parent would do: he bought me an Atari 2600, which instantly made me the most popular kid in the neighborhood.
My father never took much interest in gaming -- he thought it was a little frivolous, if harmless. He was interested in computing, so not long after buying me the 2600 he bought an Atari 400 (and then later an Atari 800) for the family and then started to teach himself BASIC. My dad was never much of a programmer -- the only application I ever remember him creating was a very simple racing game -- but around this time he did take me along to a few meetings of the local computer enthusiasts group he belonged to.
From then on there wasn't a time when we didn't have a computer in the house. He realized pretty early on that computers were going to be the future and when I was about ten years old I remember him telling me one day that I needed to stop playing King's Quest and get better at using MS-DOS.
If anything, though, my father was an A/V guy at heart. He was an audiophile who used to tell me stories about how he'd been so obsessed with music that when he was a teenager he installed a portable turntable into the family car so they could listen to 45s on the road, a plan which backfired not because the needle would constantly skip (which it did), but because one day he parked the car in the sun and accidentally melted all of his favorite records. His quest for audio perfection led him to buy the first CD player sold in the US (the Sony CDP-101, which I actually found in a stack of old A/V components here in his house) and immediately started building a collection of CD's that numbers somewhere around 30,000 today. He did his best to get me hooked as well, and for my 13th birthday he gave me a Sony D-88 Pocket Discman, which was designed primarily for playing 3-inch CD-singles.[Pictured at right: my dad in 1985 with the A/V rig he had set up in his bedroom. Note the Pioneer LaserDisc player at the bottom with the Sony CDP-101 just above it.]
As he got older it became more difficult for my father to keep up with the latest technology -- he just never got totally comfortable with spending time online -- but he was a lifelong photographer who dived right into the digital revolution, picking up one of the first digital Canon digital SLRs and converting our family room into a digital photography workshop, complete with a large-format Epson printer that he used for giant prints he sold to corporate clients. He loved being able to edit and correct his photos using a computer rather than a darkroom, and he spent hours scanning and organizing the tens of thousands of slides and negatives he had from before he made the switch to digital.
My father instilled me in his love for technology, but the most important things I learned from him have nothing to do with gadgets. Even though he loved gadgets and electronics, he never made them his life; they were just tools to make life easier or more enjoyable and were never a substitute for the friends, family, and patients that he always put first. (He was a fierce advocate for his patients; in all his years as an obstetrician he delivered almost 8,000 infants and never lost a single mother.)
What always amazed me about him was how multifaceted he was. He was an intellectually curious physician living in a small town who had traveled the world, read at least a book a week up until he died, could continually kick my ass in Scrabble even though he didn't learn English until he was 23, and knew practically everything there was to know about classical music, Spanish wines, and French cinema. All I wanted to be when I grew up was as smart as my dad.
I knew that on some level I disappointed him when I decided not to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor. He never really put much pressure on me to go to medical school or anything, but he did express his hope that I'd love medicine as much as he did. It took me a few years, but when I did finally figure out that I wanted to write about technology for a living he was tremendously supportive, and I remember how he'd always ask for extra copies of Red Herring so that he could send them to his brothers in South America. And when he told me that one of his patients had asked him if he was related to me, I knew he was proud of what I was doing -- and to show it he even started asking me for advice about what gadgets to buy.
It's difficult for me to write this. I've never shared much of my personal life on the site, mainly because I know that all of you read Engadget for the gadgets, not to hear me (or anyone else) whine about the details of what they did that day. But I also know that there wouldn't be an Engadget without my father -- and not just because he inspired my passion for technology, or that it's always been his dry, irreverent sense of humor that I've tried to emulate in my writing. He was the person who I turned to when I was wrestling with the decision to quit Gizmodo and start all over again with a new site, and he gave me the push in the right direction I needed.
My father grew up in an impoverished developing country where the only ticket out of poverty was to get an advanced degree and get a "safe" job as a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, so it was a big deal for me when he said that I needed to take a risk and toss everything aside to start Engadget. When I was home for Christmas in 2003 we stayed up late almost every night talking, and he gave me the confidence I needed to take the plunge and create the site when I was terrified about taking a chance on something that might fail. Even though he had worked all his life for the kind of financial security he never had growing up, he also believed that you should never spend a second of your life doing something you didn't care about, and he knew how much I loved blogging. He saw potential in me that I didn't see in myself.
That's why one of the happiest moments in my life was when he was able to come to an Engadget reader meetup in San Francisco. It meant a lot to me for him to see how successful Engadget had become, and it was so gratifying seeing him geek out with our readers, showing off his Canon EOS 5D to a fellow photographer and talking about and playing with all the gadgets on display like everyone else.
So maybe it's not all that surprising that this past Sunday the very last conversation I had with my father -- just three days before his untimely death -- was about gadgets. He wanted to tell me about the new HDMI-enabled A/V receiver he'd just installed and about how this new universal remote he'd bought wasn't working properly. He even wanted some insider info on whether he should buy a replacement or whether there was a new version that wasn't announced yet that he should wait for. I advised him to wait, and promised that when I was back home in California next month I'd help him get everything set up.
I expected I'd spend this Father's Day on the phone with him, maybe talking about the new two megapixel cameraphone he was using for casual photos (he'd just bought a 1GB microSD card for storing more pictures on the go) and my upcoming wedding that is now just six weeks away. Instead I'm spending it in his home, surrounded by his family and friends, wishing that I had one last chance to help him troubleshoot his Sonos, or watch Da Ali G Show with him, or sit at his computer while he showed me photos from his last trip, or talk about what it was like growing up in Peru (he had so many amazing stories which I'd love to hear him tell again). I'll never have a chance to do any of that again, but I'm beyond grateful for the 32 years I was able to spend with him.
My father was an intensely private person who'd probably be embarrassed that I'm even talking about him here, but he was a good, honest, highly principled man who did everything he could to give his family a life that was better than the one he'd had growing up in Peru -- and the world deserves to know it. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to live up to the example he set for me. Thanks for letting me share this with you.
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 8)
Karl Viklund @ Jun 18th 2007 4:51AM
Hail the mighty Rojas! :)
We love you all!
Billy N. @ Jun 18th 2007 6:30AM
I'm sure your father knows about your sadness and that he knows that you are set in your own life considering he is now the one who asks you for advice and guidence. You rock man, that goes for your father as well.
D Brown @ Jun 18th 2007 6:47AM
May your father rest in peace.
Very nice tribute for him today.
Thank you for all you do to keep us informed and up to date with new tech as it comes to market.
XO @ Jun 18th 2007 6:50AM
Beautiful tribute, my condolences to you and your family.
Jamalam @ Jun 18th 2007 6:58AM
My condolences. I'm really sorry to hear about your loss. Great Tribute, your great writing reflects you great Father.
nathan Farb @ Jun 18th 2007 7:04AM
beautiufl piece,
thanks
Chris @ Jun 18th 2007 7:35AM
Your father would be far from embarassed, but rather truly proud of the son he raised. What a touching story that reminds us that there are a few larger purposes which really transcend anything we do in our individual days and lives. Thanks for that reminder and thanks to your father for contributing his life to making this country a better place to live...one day at a time.
Blue.Lightning @ Jun 18th 2007 7:37AM
This is my first blog, like ever. I love reading engadget and same for brian ( someone i dont even know) just want to say the same thing that he said about how this is the first article that I have ever read to the end. Very heartwarming and its very inspiring aswell. me being 16 its like a new discovery. i may not be your average teenager, thinking about topics on life and law of attraction, etc.. i just want to say that maybe this site needed your post that had nothing to do with daily updates in tech. its just that we do need a break from all this tech, just to let us know who we are. I am sure there are lots of other people out there writing the same thing, and you might not get to read this comment but what i want to say is that, this comment proved my thought of this world is getting to focoused on materialism, (for the most part and atleast what i can see) i know there are a lot of sentimental people out there, but its just.. i dont know how to explain it. thanks for sharing, i loved reading the story. but you think that it would be harder to tell it to a person? u dont gota reply to this. but for the people that do not know you, we can still relate. its just that i was watching some talk show on CNN about the future, and im kinda going of topic here but they supported online social interaction because it does get people affected faster and lots more people would say something because they would remain anonymous.. lots more to say.. sorry about your dad.
-Happy Day!
John McManus @ Jun 18th 2007 8:01AM
Like father like son.
Your father reached you, and the friends he talked to.
You, through Engadget, reach millions around the world every day.
I am sorry for your loss, but pleased how he encouraged you to create such an excellent site. I had never thought about the story behind the website. I was just happy to have a place where i could find out about new gadgets, computers, etc. This piece has given a new insight into the how this all came about.
Your honesty is much appreciated.
Thanks.
William @ Jun 18th 2007 8:56AM
Great post Peter,
My father died two weeks after I got engaged. Not having him by my side at our wedding was a hard thing. As a pretty private person myself, the hardest job I have is to not shut out my fiancee (now wife) because of the pain. Don't forget that she cares about you too - communicate.
Keep up the good work!
Walt Mossberg @ Jun 18th 2007 9:06AM
Peter,
I was so very sorry to read of your Dad's passing, and very impressed with the beautiful remembrance of him that your wrote. I especially loved this:
"My father instilled me in his love for technology, but the most important things I learned from him have nothing to do with gadgets. Even though he loved gadgets and electronics, he never made them his life; they were just tools to make life easier or more enjoyable and were never a substitute for the friends, family, and patients that he always put first. (He was a fierce advocate for his patients; in all his years as an obstetrician he delivered almost 8,000 infants and never lost a single mother.)
What always amazed me about him was how multifaceted he was. He was an intellectually curious physician living in a small town who had traveled the world, read at least a book a week up until he died, could continually kick my ass in Scrabble even though he didn't learn English until he was 23, and knew practically everything there was to know about classical music, Spanish wines, and French cinema. All I wanted to be when I grew up was as smart as my dad."
You have my condolences, and my admiration. Even though your Dad died too soon and too suddenly, you are still really lucky to have had him as long as you did.
Brian @ Jun 18th 2007 9:10AM
Sorry for your loss. Thank you for the wonderful article.
Blake @ Jun 18th 2007 9:21AM
I'm very sorry for your loss. He sounds like a wonderful man, and you sound lucky to be his son!
michael.leonard @ Jun 18th 2007 9:30AM
What a perfect whay to honor your Dad. I'm very sorry for your loss. It's clear that he is very proud of you!
Phil Hammerling @ Jun 18th 2007 9:46AM
Beautiful piece about your dad...it touched me deeply as this Father's Day I also celebrate my 40th Birthday and the first one without my mom (like your dad, an immigrant). Though she did not die suddenly like your dad, the finality of her death and her absence is still deeply felt. Now my elderly father is also experiencing very serious health issues.
I think you can have peace in knowing that your dad was quite obviously proud of your accomplishments and it seems like you were very close. No doubt you fueled his love of gadgets later in life with your endeavors just as he had fueled yours earlier. Let your life and present/future parenthood be a testament to him.
My sincerest condolences and very best wishes to you and your family. And thank you for sharing your dad with us...he was obviously a good and special person and I feel like your piece brought a part of him into our lives...
Borniche @ Jun 18th 2007 10:02AM
Mi mas sentido pesame hermano, tu padre parece haber sido un muy buen hombre simpre recuerdalo y nunca olvides que se habra hido de esta tierra pero nunca se hira de tu corazon.
Mucha suerte.
ljlinehan @ Jun 18th 2007 10:03AM
Thank you for sharing this, it was very enjoyable except for his passing - my sorrow is with you.
citizen.lambda @ Jun 18th 2007 10:59AM
Great piece, my sincere condolences, may he rest in peace.
Also, on a somewhat lighter note, congratulations on your impending wedding.
Ari @ Jun 18th 2007 11:01AM
Peter,
Condolences to you and your family. It's not jsut the gadgets that bring us loyal readers to the site, but the human rouch added to it, on which as creator you ibued within it, and that is what drives us to read your blogs, read your articles around the blogosphere and print journals, and generally take interest in your life. Thank you for sharing this with us, and thanks to your dad for making you who you are.
Francisco @ Jun 18th 2007 11:35AM
Thanks for sharing.
jalabi99 @ Jun 18th 2007 11:39AM
Peter:
Join the sad club of people having to celebrate their first Father's Day without their dads being alive (I lost my dad six months ago).
When my father passed, an online friend of mine wrote me an email, and there was a line in it which is relevant to you and your situation:
"Your father lives...and he lives in you."
My deepest condolences go out to you and your family on your loss. Your dad will be the honored guest at your wedding, I am sure, in spirit if not in the flesh.
Angelo @ Jun 18th 2007 11:40AM
Very touching. Thankyou for sharing!
Ryan @ Jun 18th 2007 11:42AM
Pete,
That was a great piece, I'm sorry to hear about your loss, my condolences to you and your family.
Jeeverz @ Jun 18th 2007 11:42AM
Spoken so well, I also reflect back and see that it was my father who was diagnosed with TB last week was who taught me to love electronics/computers. He was a computer teacher back in the day and we could not really afford to buy one for our own, so i went to work with him so I could use the computers in the lab he taught in. I want to thank God for giving me sucha an amazing father. Your loss will be felt and he will always hold a special place in your heart ! Thank you for all your services to us. We greatly appriciate it
Pete Wailes @ Jun 18th 2007 11:54AM
Your father was proud of you. Nothing else you'll ever do in life will match that accomplishment. It's what matters most.
Mike @ Jun 18th 2007 11:54AM
I am so sorry for your loss.
Mike @ Jun 18th 2007 11:55AM
My best wishes for you and your family. My parents are 1500 miles away in a small town, and each has had major and life-threatening issues is the past 2 years--I keep on wondering, although their small-town life is not the ideal one for me, if the pace of modern life, with families so split up, is a good thing in the end; telephone calls can only go so far ...
Israel @ Jun 18th 2007 11:59AM
Peter,
i've never really read your blog, i found this piece on digg, but this is some very good writing. This Story actually made me cry, not out of sadness... but out of happiness as it made me realize that i still have my father. I took him out for dinner last night, which i do every year, and i gave him the news that i am going to be a father. I can say he responded with the wisdom that only Fathers can, and pledged his unconditional support as only fathers can.
Reading your piece made me realize how important it is to be able to still have him, and even though we don't share a lot of time together, that he is very important in my life.
you have my most sincerest condolences on the death of your Father, I am truly saddened about your loss. But at the same time i thank you for the article as it made me realize i have so much to live for my baby, and my family, including my Father.
thanks so much
jalapeno @ Jun 18th 2007 12:07PM
Dear Peter, I lost my father when I was 27, so I miss him dearly and I know what your are going through. This was a very touching story, my condolences to you and your family.
apb @ Jun 18th 2007 12:12PM
I also lost my father recently, who inspired me in a similar way in my interests in all things techy. I can relate to many of the things you said here. My sincerest condolences.
Josh @ Jun 18th 2007 12:32PM
Dear Peter,
As a son and a a father who's the same age as you, let me say thanks for sharing about your love for your father, and my condolences on your and your family's loss. Congratulations on the success Engadget has become, and on the more important accomplishment of keeping it in perspective with what is truly important in life.
God bless you on your upcoming wedding, I'm sure it will be a mixture of wonderful joy with a large tinge of sadness over this loss.
Peace to you and your family.
Jack B @ Jun 18th 2007 12:43PM
Great Tribute.
Rush Montgomery III @ Jun 18th 2007 12:44PM
Your father lives on in your memories, your words and your actions. I'm sure he was very proud of you.
Antonio @ Jun 18th 2007 1:02PM
Pete, Thanks for sharing and my condolences.
Mastro Gippo @ Jun 18th 2007 1:25PM
I'm very sorry for your loss. I had to leave the office and run to the bath two times, crying, before reaching the end of your piece. I'm just 20 years old, my father is still alive and I hardly realize all the great things he did to me in all this time. It's still hard to me to thanks him for all this, you know, I'm still in that teenager "don't talk to your parents because they don't understand you" thing... I hope to become able to show my parents how thankful I am as soon as possible.
Thank you for sharing.
Cristiano
AL @ Jun 18th 2007 1:26PM
My condolences Peter. A very interesting read - thanks for sharing.
kelvin long @ Jun 18th 2007 1:38PM
you've brought a wonderful blog into this world, One that i read everyday more than any site, you dad sounded just as wonderful. god bless.
Joel Laumans @ Jun 18th 2007 1:48PM
Condolences from your readers here in The Netherlands
I'm glad you're proud to be his son
Kato @ Jun 18th 2007 1:49PM
Wonderful post, Pete. I'm truly sorry for your loss. Your father sounds like he was a wonderful man and reading your story made me think of my own father, and how he's made me the man I am today. Thank you for sharing this.
Jeff McKean @ Jun 18th 2007 1:53PM
My heartfelt condolences, Pete. Your father lives on through you and because of you, we get to know him a little bit. Engadget is one of my touchstones on the web but it's always important to remember what is really important in our lives. May you be comforted by many happy memories as well as the love of friends and family.
suba_parts @ Jun 18th 2007 2:03PM
I can't think of a more fitting tribute to your father, my condolences and best wishes.
wisegoat @ Jun 18th 2007 2:07PM
I am a new father this year and your loving tribute to your father is everything I could ever hope to have from my own brand new son. It sounds like you had an outstanding father and I hope my own son learns from me like you did from your father.
Rock Robertson @ Jun 18th 2007 2:13PM
My condolences
My dad is the same way and I'm still lucky enough to have him. He made me into the techno-power-geek that I am. Your dad was obviously a great dad as well as a cool guy.
Doug Daulton @ Jun 18th 2007 3:01PM
Great post. Thanks for sharing this and please accept my condolensences for you loss.
Brent B @ Jun 18th 2007 3:05PM
My sincere condolences Peter. I have read hundreds if not thousands of articles on the Internet, and this was more than just an article. It's a piece of your heart. Totally touched me. I know your father must have been very proud of you; you had the courage to follow a dream and make it a reality.
Gaurav Sharma @ Jun 18th 2007 3:10PM
Wishing you the best in coming to terms...I'm sure your father died a proud man.
Phillip Billups @ Jun 18th 2007 3:22PM
Sincerest condolences. Thanks for sharing man. I share the same sentiments about my father - We are truly blessed men.
Rwlson @ Jun 18th 2007 4:18PM
I think this will start to become a more common occurrence amongst us who have had fathers who grew up as the tech era began, and passed it along to us, their sons, finding out that our mighty fathers are not invincible wizards like we once thought. We can be there for one another because even though our fathers father may have lived until 90 and our father felt his loss when he is 60, most of us will probably feel our fathers loss at 30, 40, or 50.
condolences.
Matt Lukens @ Jun 18th 2007 4:20PM
That sucks man, I feel your pain. I lost my dad almost 2 years ago also not expected.
Martin Elbs @ Jun 18th 2007 4:31PM
Thank you Peter,
My father recently died. I very much feel for you.
Your readers do not only read Engadget because they are interested in gadgets. There are many information sources on gadgets, but only one with spirit, with soul.
My condolences and thank you very much for this post!