In Memoriam Paul Schenkeveld 1963-2015

Paul passed away suddenly in Zürich on March 26, 2015. Paul was known to many through his close involvement in the UNIX and BSD communities, and his colleagues enjoyed his company as well as appreciating his great technical expertise.

For almost 25 years Paul ran his own company, PSconsult ICT Services. Besides working hard for his company he was also involved with many NLUUG and BSD conferences, as organizer of D-bug gatherings, as chair of the EuroBSDcon foundation and as a speaker. His BSD knowledge and his gift for teaching inspired many people over the years to explore UNIX and BSD.

In 2013 he started a completely new career with Google as a Site Reliability Engineer, where many new colleagues got to know his warm character, his expertise and his knowledge.

Many people have signed the book of condolence (see photo) - not just from the engineering side of the company, but others as well, including the chef from Thailand with whom Paul regularly chatted in Thai.

Paul also had great enthusiasm and passion for flying. He enjoyed explaining the details of being a pilot in Switzerland, both the theoretical aspects such as keeping and maintaining a licence and the enjoyment of flying around the country. In the little spare time that he had remaining, Paul helped to run a local Scout group.

Paul, thank you for inspiring us!

JC van Winkel
Chair NLUUG 2000-2006
Colleage at Google 2013-2015