[dpdk-dev] Sad News from Intel - Venky Venkatesan

["St Leger, Jim" <jim.st.leger@intel.com>]

Several of you have already heard the very sad news of the passing of our dear friend and colleague Venky.  He was "Mr. DPDK" to many, a nod to his invention and creation of DPDK about ten years ago (before it was called DPDK.)  Of course his footprints across the industry and literally across the globe are everywhere. If you know what ATCA is, well, Venky had his hands and inventions deeply into the creation of that PICMG spec and many of the first revision products. He touched on and gave guidance to projects spanning Linux/netdev, DPDK, Intel QuickAssist Technology, BSD stacks, OVS, OPNFV, FD.io, all-things-virtualization (KVM, Xen, VMware, Hyper-V, etc.), ETSI, IETF, containers, and so many other arenas that my brain can't remember at this dark moment.

If you knew him and engaged him, especially on deep technical discussions, you knew you were talking to someone with the rare combination of skills that went incredibly deep both on the hardware, silicon side of platforms but also on the software, networking side of the platforms.  Rarely did I find a topic that Venky wasn't well versed on. And by "topic" I mean everything from football to photography to history to politics and many other subjects well beyond the technical realm our day jobs find us in. Conversations with Venky were a treat. Traveling with him was an adventure. Debating with him was a lesson. I will so miss all of him.

Below are some details on a memorial service this Sunday in Oregon and also a GoFundMe page. If you're in Oregon or close by please join the service. Venky left behind a wife, Priya, and two young girls, Adhiti and Namrata. While I'm sure they are overwhelmed with sadness and grief at the moment they can use our support. Please consider supporting the GoFundMe memorial fund for his family.

Lastly, my network extends through this distribution list.  But Venky's network was one hundred times broader. Please share this sad news through your own networks.

Thanks,
Jim

From: A message from Sandra Rivera
Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 10:58 AM
Subject: Follow-up: A loss for our NPG organization

All,
We have an update on the memorial service plans in celebration of Venky Venkatesan's life.

The service will be held on Sunday, April 8th at our Jones Farm Conference Center (JFCC) in Hillsboro, OR from 2-4PM, and is open to all who would like to join.

Venky's family will plan to attend, as well as friends and others who have worked closely with him over the years. Please note that this is not an Intel-sponsored event and therefore any travel or expenses related to attending need to be managed personally.

Many of you have asked about donations, and we have helped setup a GoFundMe account for his family which will be used to fund scholarships for his children.
https://www.gofundme.com/venky-venkatesan-memorial-fund

If you have any questions about the service, please contact Udayan Mukherjee.

Thank you all very much for your support during this difficult time.
Sandra




From: A message from Sandra Rivera
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 9:34 PM
Subject: A loss for our NPG organization

To All,
Today is a very sad day for our NPG team and Intel.  Our dear friend and colleague, Venky Venkatesan, passed away early morning today after a tough battle with cancer.

Aside from his deep contributions to the organization, Venky provided technical mentorship to many employees and greatly impacted our technical leadership pipeline.

On a personal level, Venky was very dedicated to his family and also cared deeply about mentoring the next generation of engineers and scientists through efforts like coaching robotics teams and providing guidance to many interns and Intel employees. His passion, dedication and commitment to this organization, Intel, and the external community will be greatly missed.

We will let you know as soon as more information is available for Venky's memorial/celebration service.
Sandra