This is hard to believe. Very tragic news indeed. My condolences to his wife and relatives. I concur with Yag. If there is anything we can do to help...

Drew was one of the first "gurus" I met when I came into this industry more than 10 years ago. He always took me serious, even though I was just "some crazy kid from Europe". As a professional, there is nobody in this industry I have more respect for than Drew. He always knew his stuff. He always had his act together. Amongst the speaker community (Rick for instance, said that many times), we often referred to Drew as someone who was exemplary in how he did his presentations. His presentations had character, and always technically sound. He was always at the very top of my "would love to work with" list.

On a personal level, Drew and I shared the love of ice hockey. We liked different teams, so we always had fun with a friendly rivalry, especially during play-off time. I remember being on a speaker panel sitting next to Drew during play-offs one year. While we were answering the audience’s question, Drew had a live score board of a play-off game up on screen that we secretly watched. I am not going to pretend that I was one of Drew’s closest friends. We only crossed paths a few times each year. But every time I had a chance, I enjoyed and sought out his company.

As you probably know, Drew often brought Brent to conferences. This is how I got to know Brent better than any other developer’s son. As we exhibited at many conferences, we often brought marketing goodies such as Frisbees and other toys, and I found myself many a time using them playing with Brent, or doing something fun on the computer with him.

I will miss them both.

Markus


>On Friday, September 16, 2005, Drew Speedie and his son, Brent, fell a few hundred feet to their deaths from a bridge in Yellowstone Park. The Speedie family was on vacation there. Details of this tragedy are extremely limited at this time.
>
>Drew was a friend and a valued member of the Visionpace team. He was the architect and primary developer of the Visual Maxframe Professional VFP framework and a frequent speaker at Fox conferences in North America and Europe and was often accompanied by Brent and his wife, Irene.
>
>Questions or concerns should be directed to Russ Swall (rswall@visionpace.com) or by phone, 816-350-7900 or 888-904-7900.