Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Why? oh Why! A great friend, an amazing APEX guy...

I couldn't believe what I read when I first got up in the morning. But it got confirmed by other posts and some people in OraTweet....

Carl Backstrom had a car accident on Sunday and passed away.

It's unbelievable, I wish it wasn't true! What do you need to say? How do you need to react to such a thing? I'm very sad, it's very painful, it's a great loss... He was such a nice guy and a good friend. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

Carl was one of the key developers in the APEX team. I liked to call him "Mister AJAX", as he was so strong in all the fancy web stuff. He was one of the persons who gave us the Interactive Reports in Oracle Application Express. He still had so many plans to improve APEX and make it even nicer. Carl had a nice blog, an excellent APEX example site with lots of web 2.0 features and he was a frequent poster on twitter.


But next to all his good work for APEX, I would like to remember Carl as a great friend. When you were with him there was always something happening. He had great stories, he liked to go out and have fun... He was an exceptional person who was always willing to help others.
On the picture, taken at the APEX Meetup, Carl is they guy with the biggest smile on the left.

Carl thank you for everything, I'll miss you.
at

6 comments:

  1. Paulo Vale10/28/2008 8:14 AM

    Truly sad!!!
    More reactions on Twiter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=carlback

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark Lancaster10/28/2008 9:08 AM

    I'm in shock.

    Carl and I had been in regular contact by email over the last 18 months.
    He was very generous and accessible with his time, a truly great guy.

    I count myself fortunate in meeting up with him in person at Open World this year.

    My condolences go out to his friends and family.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Olivier Dupont10/28/2008 9:55 AM

    How sad for a nice person to go so young.

    Condolences to the familiy in these hard times.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Noel Portugal10/28/2008 3:22 PM

    Carl was a great guy! Always full of knowledge, and whats better he was always willing to share it.

    He will be greatly missed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10/28/2008 4:05 PM

    thanks for posting such a happy picture, we already miss Carl.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10/28/2008 6:29 PM

    Carl was a close friend of mine - we went to college and lived together for a while. He loved to learn and share what he learned with others. He always wanted the best for everyone, and was as genuine a person as your likely to ever meet. We miss you Carl. Thanks for the good times.

    ReplyDelete