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Piotr Szmyd
This Tuesday June 22nd 2021, our dear friend Piotr Szmyd (@pszmyd) passed away. Piotr was a respected member of our community, a steering committee member, and a passionate contributor. Everyone loved him.
By creating this issue we hope you can share a story or a thought to help keep his memory alive and show his family and his friends how much he meant to us.
Building a community means creating relationships with people we didn't expect to. Piotr was one the most important members of this community since the beginning. Anyone who has used Orchard must be thankful for his contributions and his generosity.
Those who still attend our meetings know how fond I was of Piotr and would often still joke about him being late even though he wasn't active on the project anymore. This shows how much he touched us. If you don't remember these moments let me share some videos we recorded during our conferences, which he never missed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyTIlssxoJE&list=PLpCsCyd254FpFB-O4mW6q8z0lEqwdIuXa&t=553s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyTIlssxoJE&list=PLpCsCyd254FpFB-O4mW6q8z0lEqwdIuXa&t=675s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyTIlssxoJE&list=PLpCsCyd254FpFB-O4mW6q8z0lEqwdIuXa&t=1555s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m0glsmA5vA&list=PLpCsCyd254FqVObbQDDKQOVN7XM0NDZin&t=700s
I encourage anyone to share a though or a memory about Piotr and share their location. I hope that this way we can express what a great person he was and how much he was appreciated by people from all over the world.
Sebastien Ros / Bellevue, WA, USA
This picture was taken as we all met in Los Angeles for the first time in 2012. It was the first time I met @Jetski5822, @pszmyd, and @bleroy in real life (IRL).
The next day, @pszmyd and I went to get coffee and get on our laptops at a nearby Coffee Bean. I drove. Fifteen minutes after we left, Piotr says, "Uh, I left my backpack at the coffee shop". He didn't seem too worried, which I found odd. I would have panicked! We drove back, and there was his backpack, right where he had left it - no biggie!
I'll always remember Piotr for his skills, his creativity, and his positive outlook. He will be missed.
I have been really inspired by Piotr's contributions when I started to use Orchard and my journey to open source projects. He made one of the first major module (Hierarchical menu) that has been then integrated to the CMS. He was also one of the first contributors I met during the first Orchard Harvest in Los Angeles. We will always remember him smiling like on the picture.
Antoine Griffard / Lille, France.
On each and every meeting of the Orchard community, you could be sure that the best way to have a good time was to follow Piotr around. He was the most fun and kind. His contributions were foundational and awesome, we wouldn't be where we are today without his always smart and thoughtful work. I'll always remember the times and conversations we had with him. My deepest sympathies go to his family and his close friends.
I'm extremely saddened to have received the news about Piotr Szmyd. There are few people one meets in our journey through life that simply are who they are, without pretense or posture. Piotr Szmyd was someone you immediately recognized as 100% genuine, kind, thoughtful, nearly always positive, and had a deep kind energy. I'm so sorry I won't be connecting with you again on this journey. Your passing has truly touched me and I hope that you know that you touched many people who had the opportunity to connect with you along the way.
Sincerest condolences to his wife and family.
Piotr was an amazing guy. I met him for the first time at the Amsterdam conference and he really made me feel welcome as a new member of the community. His humour was infectious and he was so fun to be around. He was one of the people I looked forward to meeting at every conference I attended.
He will be missed.
Although I never spoke to him in person I remember his name to this day as he kindly helped me with some Orchard issues a few years back. I had a great time with Orchard and he made it happen. It is really sad to lose such a great guy and contributor. My condolences go out to every person that was in direct contact with him.
What a loss. I had the honor to meet Piotr in one of the Orchard Harvests that took place in Spain. Haven't met anyone else from the community in person before, he was one of the first guys that add me the the circle. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Sotirios Roussos // Elefsina, Greece
This picture was taken in LAX on September 2012 on my way to the first Orchard Harvest conference ever. This is also the first time I finally got to meet Piotr in person, who has been a key figure in my career as an Orchard consultant.
It all started thanks to his Advanced Menu module, a key-component that was missing in Orchard that got me to finally jump on to the Orchard bandwagon. I didn't understand how Orchard worked, but Piotr's generous contributions helped me to get into it. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of his contributions to the project
Those times were just magical and I was lucky enough to got to work with him in beautiful Santa Monica. We shared fun, laughter and passion for our craft, and he always impressed me with his bright, intelligent mind, great sense of humor, his boyish mischievous smile and above all his kind heart.
I will always have fond memories of my friend.
Sipke Schoorstra / Apeldoorn, Netherlands
I first met Piotr, as @morrisonbrett mentioned in LA. One of the most laid back guys ive ever met!
The first large Orchard Harvest, I think he rented an apartment with the other Proligence team and drank all night, then was quite late the next day... - Pure Piotr fashion. Whilst I haven't spoken to him in some time, if we were to meet up, it would no doubt be like no time had passed.
He was a friend, and he will be missed.
Here's some photos I found (Sorry about the quality, I had been drinking! (seems so had Piotr!))
i didn't have the chance to meet him but he inspired me a lot.
Sincerest condolences for his family and friends.
Jean-Thierry Kéchichian / Romans, France
I feel deeply sad to hear this bad news. I started to hear from him at Orchard forums and stack overflow, and very early I noticed he was a smart guy from which you can learn a lot on any of his comments. For that it is not enough to be smart you also need to have the will of helping others and explain things with enough detail, and without doubt he was there to help with all the knowledge he had available and the will to help others. At Orchard Harvest at Spain I had the opportunity to meet him,. My impression after meeting him was even better, he was not only smart and helpful he was a really funny guy and better perso n. He is the kind of people everyone would love to surround themselves for anything. Piotr will live always between those who meet him within this community
May our branches merge again, Piotr!
(Coming from the left guy here: https://github.com/OrchardCMS/Orchard/issues/8484#issuecomment-868966753. Budapest, Hungary)
Really sad and shocked to hear this. We never met in real life, but had some nice interactions online in the Orchard Classic days. He stuck out from the crowd. Lot of love to his friends and family.
So sad to hear about Piotr passing. I absolutely share the sentiment how genuinely nice, down-to-earth and chill Piotr was, always fun to spend time with (and we definitely started on a good note building on the legendary Polish-Hungarian friendship). All those occasions we met are memorable (the Orchard Harvest conferences + in Warsaw in 2014 and then in Lisbon in 2016).
My professional career's backbone being OSS and Orchard, I'm absolutely certain that Piotr (together with the commenters above btw) made a positive impact on my life, for which I'm extremely grateful.
Here's another great photo with him (taken by @morrisonbrett during Orchard Harvest in Amsterdam in the June of 2013):
You will be missed.
Benedek Farkas // Budapest, Hungary
This is really tough to hear. Piotr and I met once at the first Orchard Harvest in California. He was a real nice guy and always would answer questions I may have had with Orchard. As someone who uses Orchard every day and has built a business around it, I can't say how thankful I am for the community here. Piotr no doubt answered a ton of questions I had and contributed to the success of the project so we could all be successful. I am so sad to hear this and will be sure to contribute back to the community in a way that Piotr would be proud of. RIP.
I too am saddened to hear of this loss. Though I hadn't met Piotr in person, he was a great help in my ramping up in Orchard, even back to the CodePlex days. Best wishes to the family coming from Carthage, NY, USA.
