Ed Keefe

[DZ]

It is with a very heavy heart that I pass along the information that Ed Keefe has passed away.

I am very thankful to have known Ed, he was a mentor and a friend and will be sorely missed.

[swamidog]

Oh no! What happened? Ed was such a great person. He will be so missed.

It is with a very heavy heart that I pass along the information that Ed Keefe has passed away.

I am very thankful to have known Ed, he was a mentor and a friend and will be sorely missed.

[DZ]

Oh no! What happened? Ed was such a great person. He will be so missed.

It was a heart attack. His wife took their dog for a walk and when she returned he was gone.

[mixedgas]

Requiescat in Pace, You will be missed.

Steve

[Greg]

How very sad. Ed and I were in the process of discussing his generous offer of technical collaboration, and the possibility of him communicating with the current owner of Laserium regarding recovery of the data from any existing 1/4" show tapes. In the brief time that we talked, Ed seemed like a wonderful person. A sad loss to the community.

[dkumpula]

I just got the call from Mary Keefe and came out here. Ed was a great friend. He was brilliant, creative, hilarious, generous, humble, and compassionate. He was always ready to listen as well as entertain. Over the past decade, I've probably spent more time talking with Ed than anyone other than my wife and daughter. I can't believe he's gone, but as they say only the good die young.

-David

[buffo]

David Zurcher called me today to give me the terrible news that Ed had passed away. My heart goes out to his wife and son; they must be devastated.

Ed was an amazing person: Intelligent, intuitive, creative, helpful and kind, but also clever, sarcastic, funny, and oh-so-very-much a joy to be around. I have many fond memories of Ed explaining things to me and others at various laser enthusiasts meetings over the years. He was always so patient with us, answering our naive questions as he guided us through an explanation. He would often poke fun at himself as he humbly explained his latest project, never seeming to take much credit for the amazing things he built. But when he saw the spark of understanding in someone else, he would get this little twinkle in his eyes; it was clear that he enjoyed the moment of discovery just as much as we did.

Goodbye, Ed. You were an incredible man, and though I am filled with sorrow at the thought of your passing, I am thankful I got the chance to know you. You will be missed by everyone in our community. Peace.

Adam

[lasermaster1977]

I just got the call from Mary Keefe and came out here. Ed was a great friend. He was brilliant, creative, hilarious, generous, humble, and compassionate. He was always ready to listen as well as entertain. Over the past decade, I've probably spent more time talking with Ed than anyone other than my wife and daughter. I can't believe he's gone, but as they say only the good die young.

-David

This is shockingly sad news. I had only recently connected with Ed through his generous offer to work with me on an update to my old Apple coprocessor DAC boards. We had wonderful email exchanges the afternoon of Feb 2nd. This explains why he was unable to respond to my last email that I sent him on Feb. 3rd. For me, Ed was openly enthusiastic about technology challenges and showed a great interest to share ideas and solutions. I extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to his wife and family.

May he rest in peace.

[JohnYayas]

This news really makes me sad. Ed reached out to me to collaborate a couple of times. We never ended up doing anything but I was struck by his generosity to help and his good nature.

[buffo]

It's hard to accept that Ed is gone. Looking through the CNYG-B thread, you can see where he just posted some pictures of a few of his projects, including a DAC for the Commodore 64. True to his typical modesty, he says that this was "nothing special", as if it were completely normal to build something like this in the late 1980's. In fact, Ed's creation was one of only a handful of computer-based laser controllers in existence at that time.

I remember Ed resisting the idea of upgrading to a smart phone. For years he carried a simple cell phone with large buttons and a single-line screen that would show you the numbers you were dialing. On the back panel, it had a pocket for a tiny notepad and a pencil... He would joke with people, telling them that the notepad was his "contacts list", and that his phone also had "games" (he would flip to the back of the notepad to reveal a crossword puzzle). That sort of self-effacing humor was so in character for Ed!

Ed has helped many people in our community with all sorts of interesting projects, but he also helped me out in a very personal manner that I won't soon forget. This was at SELEM in 2017 in Newton, NC. Being a fellow diabetic, Ed and I often chatted about the medicines we both took, and I happened to mention to him early in the event that my doctor had recently put me on a new medicine that tended to cause my blood sugar to drop dangerously low. He immediately understood the risk of this, and told me he'd be happy to keep an eye on me. Sure enough, two days later I was standing in the gallery watching a presentation of some sort (I honestly can't remember what it was) when I suddenly felt very weak and dizzy. I sat down in the corner next to the piano, and just sort of zoned out for a bit, but eventually I realized that my blood sugar was probably low, so I started fumbling with my test kit.

I was sweating profusely, and I was very cold (both signs of hypoglycemia), but no one noticed me off in the corner. My hands were shaking so much that I had trouble getting the test trip inserted into the meter. By the time I was able to get a drop of blood from my finger onto the test trip, I felt like I was going to pass out. The meter read 56 mg/dL, which is the lowest I've ever recorded (and 100% qualifies as a life-threatening emergency). All I wanted to do was lie down, just for a minute... And then I see Ed kneeling in front of me with an open can of Coke in his outstretched hand. "You look low; drink this now", he calmly said. I took the can from him and started drinking, as I handed over my meter with my other hand. I remember the look in his eyes as he saw the number; in that moment he knew he had correctly judged the situation.

Ed sat down on the floor with me, and after I had chugged maybe 2/3rds of the can of coke, he helped me re-load my meter with another test strip so I could test again. Slowly, over the course of maybe 6 or 7 minutes, my blood sugar started coming back up. After 10 minutes it was up to 90 and climbing, at which point I felt much better. Ed stuck with me for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, just to make sure I didn't drop low again. The next morning he was waiting at the loading dock when I showed up to open the venue, and the first thing he wanted to know was whether I had eaten breakfast or not. The guy knew exactly what I was going through, and he wanted to be sure I was taking proper care.

Damn, I'm going to miss him.

Adam