Tom Hedges-In Loving Memory

Bootstrap

11-1979

Though this is several years late, I wanted some opportunity to record this somewhere, Tom gave a 19 year old undereducated but enthusiastic kid his start on a career when he hired me into the Systems group at Calma. For several years he was my mentor and working with him and Mark Zimmer taught me an immense amount. I have fond memories of intense discussions, hard work, long hours and visiting the KZSU transmitter site with him to do a repair. After Tom took a sabbatical from Calma to work with Carver Mead and I followed Mark Zimmer to Tricad, I kept tabs, sometimes keeping in touch. I was well aware of his battles with cancer through mutual friends but was saddened to learn of his passing. I count him among my major mentors and will always silently thank him for seeing whatever it was he saw in me to give me a shot.

George K. Watson

Belated, but the emotions never die

11-19-2008

I was thinking about Tom past several months, maybe it was even late 2007. I had Googled him in intervening years since fractal.com died, and not too much had come up (something about an award Tom had won) .

Today I Googled and ended up here.

http://www.tribbit.com/tribute.html?t=7752&offset=10&limit=20&r=4544

Did Priscilla Shih marry Michael Cinque and become Priscilla Cinque?

\"...scolding Tom, telling him it was inappropriate to return a bad board to a vendor after scribbling [b]“NFG”[/b] onto it. As the smiles and chuckles appeared around the room, Tom shrugged and said he’d assumed that was a universally accepted nomenclature...\"

Yeah that is the hilarious Tom I remember! Hahaha.

Tom was SFB (So F... Brilliant).

\"...I\'ll always remember how Tom would stop in the middle of almost anything and go to the balcony at the Aptos offices to watch a train passing. Soon all of Fractal would spill out to the balcony with him. We all loved Tom...\"

Yeah well I remember back in 1993 when Fractal was still small (afair only 3 of us programmers), and Tom when returning to his desk (barefoot!) after one of those moments of excitement, would wisecrack about the anything off-the-wall, whether it be about the mosquitos, the thermostat setting, the lady walking in the parking lot...his wit was bizarre, genius, and hilariously blunt.

I learned so much from Tom, e.g. how to compress a complex directive into a 1 sentence \"email\", and how to arrive at the most efficient design in the mind, rather than months/years of re-factoring.

It was exponentially more INefficient for me to work with \"normal\" people, where one laboriously explains the obviously deductible inferences, after the bar had been set so high at Fractal. Working closely with Tom was \"all beef and no chaff\". Tom, Mark Zimmer, and my cubicles were in same room in 1993.

\"...Tom bounded into my office (garage) more than 20 years ago with a copy of ImageStudio tucked under one arm...\"

Yeah I will never forget his enthusiastic (if not Jurassic) gait. Hehehe. I miss Tom, even I never talked to him again after I left in 1995 (to go off on adventure in the jungle which wasn\'t quite compatible with Fractal\'s ambitious goals at the time...).

There was something I never got to say to Tom. Tom I wanted to tell you that I love you, you left an indelible mark on me, and I wish somehow I could have worked with you synchronously with my travel adventures.

Oh I remember Tom flew me up from Los Angeles, we ate Chinese food (his habitual lunch), then he hired me right on the spot. It was great to work for/with someone who managed by the \"seat of his pants\" (direct to the point, no BS, copious of humor).

\"...We were working crazy hours every day for weeks trying to get Painter 4 out before the IPO. Basically living at work. One weekend, I honestly don\'t know if it was a Saturday or Sunday...it was a blur...Tom stuck his head into the QA Lounge and without preamble said, \"I\'m taking the kids to see Toy Story. Come on.\" He rounded up everybody in the building and took us to lunch and a movie with his family. He was the emotional center of Fractal. We cared about him because he cared about us...\"

Sounds like something Tom might do, although that was right after I left in 1995. I think 3.1 was the last version I worked on (that had my name in Help -> About credits), also PainterX2 in 1993. I was not at Fractal (traveling in jungle) in 1994 when Painter2.0 was produced.

Some links to Painter About screens:
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/splashes/painter/3.1-mac.png
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/splashes/painter
http://w3.poporo.ne.jp/%7Edddo/oekakienv/Painters/diff/sshotall.html

If any one wants to get in touch with me, my email is:

shelby

at

coolpage

dot

com

additional sites

1-16-2008

I would like to point out that personal tributes to Tom may also be found on the following web sites:

http://www.legacy.com/MercuryNews/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=98284843
http://www.legacy.com/KansasCity/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=98534127

At each of these sites you can click on "Guest Book" to read or add comments.

reminiscing on Tom

1-16-2008

Tom came to work at Calma in 1973. Our software manager Bill Nickels found him by phoning a Stanford professor and asking if he had any grad students interested in working part-time.

Tom cut a unique figure. With his tall, lanky build, wavy hair in a ponytail, and lively intellect, I would say he projected a certain electric energy. Although a graduate of CalTech, he had an air of unsophisticated outgoing cheerfulness -- brainy but not wrapped up in his braininess.

Like me, he had an affinity for late-night hours. He, I, and several other kindred souls were the ghosts who haunted the machine room after the daytime workers had gone home. Bending over ASR33 teletypes, we crafted the code that added new features to the GDS system.

In 1976 Calma undertook to develop a successor system to GDS, later to be christened "GDS II" but referred to at the time as "SGDS". The SGDS design team consisted of Tom, me, Carl Smith, Paul King, and project leader Roger Sturgeon. Sitting through sometimes tedious meetings, we worked out the architecture of the new system.

The first delivery of the GDS II system was made to several Japanese companies in March 1978. Calma took the unusual step of sending the whole design team to Japan to support the delivery. (The photo below shows Tom and Roger at Tokyo's Haneda Airport at the end of our visit.) Some major reworking was still needed to turn GDS II into a usable system, and Roger and Tom took the lead in making those crucial changes.

What stands out in my memory of Tom is not only his intelligence, but also his sense of fairness, his open-mindedness, his willingness to express reasoned opinions on a wide range of topics. Also, his essential cheerfulness. When discussing technical topics, there was generally enthusiasm in his voice and a hint of a smile on his face, as if the work he was doing was not work but a game he enjoyed.

Less clear in my memory are the times when we butted heads. Tom did not hesitate to speak out when he disagreed with the way a piece of code had been written. At times he did more than speak out, he would jump in and change the offending code. This often did not sit well with the people whose code was changed, and tempers sometimes flared. Although we were rivals in various ways, on the whole I felt that he liked me, and that made me like him.

His technical judgments were usually right on. But he never let it go to his head. He always had a certain modesty, an unwillingness to boast about himself. In those days he hosted a weekly music program on the Stanford radio station KZSU. When I listened, there was little of Tom to be heard -- he would mostly play records, occasionally breaking in to give a few song titles. It was very low-key.

Even though I have had hardly any contact with him in recent years, to have Tom gone feels like a terrible loss. I wanted to spend more time with him, but kept finding excuses in my daily routine not to do so. Now that it's too late, I'm sorry I didn't.

Tokyo 1978

3-13-1978

Tom with Roger Sturgeon at Haneda Airport, March 1978

Tokyo 1978

March 13, 1978

Tom with Roger Sturgeon at Haneda Airport, March 1978

Gonna miss you Tom

1-8-2008

When I think back on Fractal I think of the three cool cats ...Mark, Tom, and John. Fractal was like family and we had three dads in our family, fun (even by Santa Cruz standards) but that was our family. Playing Lady Madonna at the company picnic or doing jumping jacks in the parking lot it will always be fond memories. It's hard to believe you are gone dude! Saying a prayer.

Thinking of Tom

November 2007

I've received a few emails from Fractal Design alumni and friends, expressing sympathy and fond memories of Tom. I wanted to pass them along to Robin, Colin and Broghan.

From Jeremy Sutton:
"That is very sad news. Thank you for thinking to let me know. My sincerest condolences to Tom's family. I have fond memories of him - such a warm person."

From Steve Guttman:
"Would you please pass my condolences on to the family and others?
...
Tom was really a great guy--one of the most influential technologists in image-editing, and a terrific person.
We'll miss him, greatly."

From Jon Bass:
"Thank you for forwarding this message on. I am so sorry to hear that Tom has passed.

I will always remember a brief encounter that I saw between Tom and his son at the grocery store in Aptos. They were in the candy isle picking out candy and talking to each other about the pros and cons of each others' candy choice. They talked like peers and I was struck with the thought that Tom was always able to hold on to the inner spirit of a child. I hope I shall be so lucky."

From Caitlyn Meeks-Klöcker:
"Tom was a great guy. I'm really sorry to hear about that."

His laugh

11-26-2007

I didn't have the fortune to know Tom all that well. I didn't work on the products he worked on. I didn't see him that often. Maybe an occasional hello as we passed each other in the Halls of Fractal/MetaCreations. I wish I had known him better.

The one thing I will remember most about Tom is that laugh. That wonderful gurgling laugh that was unmistakably Tom. I'll never forget being in my cube, working on the latest build and stopping to listen and chuckle when I heard it.

Thanks for the laughs Tom!

Blessings,

Joe Grover

Launching Rockets with Tom

May 1993