[Chapter-delegates] Sad news from the Netherlands / RIPE

[Borka Jerman Blazic]

It is really very sad today. Rob was not only pioneer but also the main 
promoter
of Internet spread up and development, especially in Europe. He was
founder of RIPE that started as a small research group within RARE  but 
then that developed
to organization that   can not be missed for smooth running of the 
ubiquitous Internet.

Rob with his talent and enthusiasm  was the person that help me in 
introducing the
first Internet connecting line to  Yugoslavia and Slovenia over X.25 
IXI, EASYnet and
then to NIKHEF  and the Internet world in 1990. I will never forget his 
talent for engaging
people for the right thing in networking in times were officially we had 
to follow  the
governmental ISO/OSI doctrine. And I will never forget his sense of 
humour during all
these magnificent RIPE and INET events all over the world, including the 
INET Kobe conference in 1992  where
Internet Society was set up and launched.

We will miss Rob very much. My condolence to all concerned.

Borka Jerman Blažič

Slovenia ISOC Chapter



Veni Markovski je 2.12.2015 ob 16:08 napisal:
> It's a sad day today.
> One of the pioneers of the European Internet has passed away.
> https://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/tribute-to-dr-robert-blokzij-1943-2015
>
>
>   Tribute to Dr. Robert Blokzijl 1943 - 2015
>
>
> 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 this page 
> <https://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/tribute-to-dr-robert-blokzij-1943-2015> 
> and we will pass it on to his family.
>
>
> The Internet community has suffered Rob Blokzijla 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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?”
>
> You can leave your own tribute to Rob below
>
>
>     Biography
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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).
>
> At the RIPE 67 Meeting in October 2013, Rob announced his resignation 
> as Chair of RIPE after being in the position for 25 years.
>
>
>
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-- 
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 mob. +386 
41 678 410
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