I was full of optimism coming to the office this morning: a beautiful sunny day, after a great, relaxing weekend, and a relatively light schedule this week to plough through work. So I came in early and trawled through the blogs, and ran across this post from Rod Schwartz:
[NB: UPDATE: there is now a site set up to post tributes here and a memorial fund to donate to online]
Apparently, Sarah, who was UnLtd Ventures Director until very recently (she was set to move on to pastures new), was involved in a cycle accident last week. Sadly she died this weekend. I didn’t know Sarah as well as Rod or some others, but she started work at UnLtd around the time I joined SSE, so our paths have crossed a lot over the past few years. As Rod details in his post, she was an exuberant, larger-than-life presence with a healthy irreverence; combined with a sharp brain, this led to plenty of interesting (and entertaining) conversations at events and conferences. It is always shocking to lose someone of a young age with so much ahead of them; so am a bit stunned by that this morning.
SSE‘s thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues.
I’d certainly second what you say here Nick. I didn’t know Sarah personally but listened to her speak at events and read what she said in SE magazine and elsewhere, and beyond the personal tragedy for her family and friends, she is a real loss to all of us who are trying to make a difference to society in many different ways. I’d encourage people to read Rod’s tribute which you link to above.
Rob