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It is really very sad today. Rob was not only pioneer but also the
main promoter<br>
of Internet spread up and development, especially in Europe. He
was<br>
founder of RIPE that started as a small research group within
RARE but then that developed<br>
to organization that can not be missed for smooth running of the
ubiquitous Internet. <br>
<br>
Rob with his talent and enthusiasm was the person that help me in
introducing the<br>
first Internet connecting line to Yugoslavia and Slovenia over
X.25 IXI, EASYnet and <br>
then to NIKHEF and the Internet world in 1990. I will never
forget his talent for engaging<br>
people for the right thing in networking in times were officially
we had to follow the <br>
governmental ISO/OSI doctrine. And I will never forget his sense
of humour during all<br>
these magnificent RIPE and INET events all over the world,
including the INET Kobe conference in 1992 where<br>
Internet Society was set up and launched.<br>
<br>
We will miss Rob very much. My condolence to all concerned.<br>
<br>
Borka Jerman Blažič<br>
<br>
Slovenia ISOC Chapter<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Veni Markovski je 2.12.2015 ob 16:08 napisal:<br>
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It's a sad day today. <br>
One of the pioneers of the European Internet has passed away. <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/tribute-to-dr-robert-blokzij-1943-2015">https://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/tribute-to-dr-robert-blokzij-1943-2015</a><br>
<h1 id="parent-fieldname-title" class="documentFirstHeading">Tribute
to Dr. Robert Blokzijl 1943 - 2015</h1>
<br>
<div id="parent-fieldname-description" class="documentDescription">
Dr. Robert Blokzijl, RIPE Chair Emeritus and founding member of
the RIPE community, died aged 72 on 1 December 2015. If you
would like to leave a message of condolence or your own memory
of Rob, please post it at the end of <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/tribute-to-dr-robert-blokzij-1943-2015">this
page</a> and we will pass it on to his family. </div>
<div id="content-core">
<div class=""
id="parent-fieldname-text-c5bd2c32331e4adbb4aba66cee8af43a">
<p> <br>
</p>
<p>The Internet community has suffered <img style="cursor:
pointer;" rel="#pb_1"
src="cid:part3.02050605.04050607@e5.ijs.si" alt="Rob
Blokzijl" class="image-left popup-link link-overlay"
title="Rob Blokzijl" align="left" height="435" hspace="8"
vspace="8" width="293">a sad loss as the man who led RIPE
during its first 25 years of bottom-up, consensus-driven
collaboration and decision-making died at his home in the
Netherlands.</p>
<p>As one of the founders of RIPE in 1989 and the Chair of the
RIPE community for 25 years since then, Rob Blokzijl
personified all the attributes that have seen the community
grow into such a positive force for bringing together those
who care about the development of the Internet.</p>
<p>Rob’s roots were in the high-energy physics community, and
earlier in his career he worked at the High Energy Physics
Institute in Amsterdam and later at CERN in Geneva. He
helped to build the computer networks that were essential
for that branch of science. His work in this area would
inform much of his contribution to the burgeoning IP
networking community in Europe in the early 1980s.</p>
<p>Over the past 30 years, Rob has established a global
reputation as a leader and a pioneer, respected for his work
with organisations such as RIPE, the RIPE NCC, AMS-IX,
ICANN, Nominet and NATO.</p>
<p>In 1989, Rob was co-author of the RIPE Terms of Reference,
which stated, “The object of RIPE is to ensure the necessary
administrative and technical coordination to allow the
operation and expansion of a pan-European IP network.” In
his role as the Chair of RIPE, his vision, expertise and
effort were essential for the tremendous growth and spread
of this world-respected forum, which acted as a model for
many subsequent community organisations.</p>
<p>Rob was also one of the key figures in creating the RIPE
NCC (RIPE Network Coordination Centre), the body responsible
for managing the IP address space in Europe, the Middle East
and parts of Central Asia and coordinating the technical
community in those regions. The RIPE NCC was the first
Regional Internet Registry in the world, and this model has
become the accepted way to organise the Internet
infrastructure in a more regionally specific, responsive and
efficient way.</p>
<p>Rob had a particular talent for being able to engage with
all elements of the Internet community, from government and
experienced operators to more recent members of the RIPE
community to whom he could impart his insight and wisdom on
the issues of the day. He brought much common sense to
otherwise complicated discussions in the Internet community,
and his mantra of “keep it simple” is one that he will be
remembered for.</p>
<p>Those who knew Rob personally will miss his sense of
humour. He was a storyteller with an outstanding ability to
recall and relate the events from his working life, which
not only amused his listeners but also enlightened them and
informed their discussions. The recent RIPE 71 Meeting was
the first not to be attended by Rob due to his illness, and
so it was the first where he was not to be found with a
cigarette and glass of wine in hand, enjoying the company of
those who typically gathered outside the venue entrance to
talk about serious matters in a very non-serious way.</p>
<p>His contributions were often officially recognised, notably
in receiving Dutch royal honours by being awarded with the
title Officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau in 2010. He also
received the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award in 2015 for
outstanding contributions in service to the data
communications community. Since standing down as RIPE Chair
in 2013, he has enjoyed the title RIPE Chair Emeritus.</p>
<p>To many of us in the RIPE community and beyond, Rob was a
mentor, a friend, a trusted confidante and always the voice
of reason. His legacy stretches from the physical networks
the Internet is made of to the community he built and the
wisdom he injected into that community’s make-up from the
very beginning. His legacy will continue to be felt as the
community continues to grow and its participants often ask
themselves, “What would Rob do?”</p>
<p>You can leave your own tribute to Rob below</p>
<p> </p>
<h2 class=" ">Biography</h2>
<p class=" ">Robert "Rob" Blokzijl was a founding member of
Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE), the European open forum for IP
networking. From its foundation in 1989, he was spokesperson
for this forum until 2014. He was instrumental in the
creation of the Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination
Centre (RIPE NCC) in 1992 as the first Regional Internet
Registry (RIR) in the world. Prior to this, he was active in
building networks for the particle physics community in
Europe.</p>
<p class=" ">Rob graduated from the University of Amsterdam
(1970) and holds a doctorate in experimental physics from
the same university (1977). He was employed by the National
Institute for Subatomic Physics (NIKHEF) in The Netherlands.</p>
<p class=" ">Rob was also selected for the ICANN Board by the
Address Supporting Organization. He served on the ICANN
Board from October 1999 until December 2002.</p>
<p class=" ">He was a member of the Board of Nominet, the
organisation that serves as the registry for the .uk domain,
one of the largest country-code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs).</p>
<p class=" ">At the RIPE 67 Meeting in October 2013, Rob
announced his resignation as Chair of RIPE after being in
the position for 25 years.</p>
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<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Prof.dr.Borka Jerman-Blažič
Head, Laboratory for Open systems and Networks
Jožef Stefan Institute and
Faculty of Economics, Ljubljana University
Slovenia
tel. +386 1 477 3408
tel. +386 1 477 3756
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