Dear community and friends,
I thought it might be a good idea for us all to gather our thoughts, memories and stories of Dan and what he meant to us in one place.
If you would like donate to a scholarship fund for his family, visit https://www.linuxfoundation.org/in-memoriam-dan-kohn/
I first met Dan as I was bootstrapping CNCF and we were entering our crazy growth phase and needed to expand the team. While Dan and I didn't always agree on everything, I had the pleasure of working with Dan on a daily basis the last few years cultivating CNCF and other LF projects. Dan was committed to building a global and diverse community, he always took the time to chat with community members all over the world and ensured that CNCF was using its resources to uplift the community. We spent many hours on the road together away from family which can be tough for a father with young children. However, Dan always ensured that he would bring something back for the kids, or better yet, find a way to bring them along to involve them in the community like handing our swag at our event in India earlier this year. After CNCF, Dan's next project was establishing LF Public Health as a shared resource not just to fight COVID-19 but to combat future health crises. LFPH has already seen success and is bringing the spirit of open source to global health authorities.
I will miss our fun conversations and plans... while I have lost a close friend, we have also lost a tireless champion for open source across the world.
My last message to Dan, which he didn't see:
Dan, I heard the news from Jim and I’m devastated. Thank you for everything you’ve done for the open source community and for me personally. You’ve changed the world in ways that very few people have, and that impact will live on. You’ve certainly changed the trajectory of my career and thousands others, and we’ll take good care of everything you’ve worked so hard for. Thank you again and all my love to you and your family.
I met Dan while he was working at Spreemo, then followed him to the CNCF. He was the best boss I have ever had in my life. For the first time, I had a boss, a mentor, and a loyal friend at the same time. It was thanks to Dan that I had my first opportunity to visit the world. We met many times, practically at every KubeCon conference. We often discussed things not related to work, such as traveling. We have worked together for over five years. Dan was a wonderful man, and the news of his sudden and premature death saddened and surprised me. Rest in peace, dear friend—sincere condolences to the whole family.
I saw Dan for the first time at the keynote stage in Seattle during KubeCon'2016. These were the early days of the Kubernetes community and CNCF in general, but I was definitely impressed by the presentation made by this tall and loud gentleman.
A bit less than year later I've joined CNCF as a full-time staff member, and ability to work closely with Dan was one of the primary reasons why I made this decision. Despite the fact that I haven't reported to Dan directly, I felt his impact on the whole organization, on all of us, on an every single person within CNCF. He also was a kind and polite person who has helped me to steer in the woods of uncertainty at some points of my career.
Dan was a truly extraordinary person, and his impact on the whole open source industry is significant. I have a strong feeling that most of us (including myself) would not be there where we are now and would not do what we are doing now if we'd not met Dan.
Thank you, Dan.
Dan had a massive positive influence on my life and career. He believed and fought for me when others would not. He is an amazing mentor to me and his advice and guidance is something I use every day. I am in an amazing career at an amazing company because of Dan and I can’t thank him enough.
Dan, as I, am an introvert in an extrovert field. I will never forget our almost-dinner at MWC in Barcelona. People were dropping out of going to the conference, but Dan and I were still going to go if the conference was held! I suggested we have dinner together. Dan told me that he doesn't really like people, so we would go to dinner together, sit at different tables in the same restaurant, and just read out books (or whatever). With us both being introverts - it was going to be the best dinner ever! :)
I will forever hear his laugh. And I leave one word: Grammerly. :)
Dan was not only a tremendous leader in the open source community, but a kind person who made all feel welcome. I still remember meeting him at my first KubeCon event, at the Tivoli in Copenhagen. He will be missed--but not forgotten. His work is now being carried on by a 100,000+ committers, building a better community for all. RIP!
The last several years of my life have been intimately entangled with Kubernetes and the CNCF. And Dan was a fundamental part of making the CNCF what it is. I didn't always agree with him, but it was always above board. He always worked hard to balance all of the various forces to create win-win situations and success for everyone involved. Whenever we met at a conference or event he was always easy to talk to and clearly cared about fostering a community.
The big thing I'll remember Dan for is his work and dedication for including, diversity and equity. In multiple instances Dan would go beyond what was easy to really try and move the our community (and, by small increments, the larger industry) forward. He really worked to make sure that KubeCon (and the CNCF as a whole) were at the forefront of things like diversity scholorships. I know that this had an impact on many in our community. Beyond just KubeCon, he took feedback around diversity in the governing structure of the CNCF (TOC, GB) very seriously. He put himself out on a limb multiple times to do the right thing to lead in this space. I was and am impressed with his commitment.
Goodbye Dan. You will be missed.
Dan always used to say "fill out a pull request", "make a pull request". Here is my last PR for you Dan.
First: What Joe said, LGTM.
And then obviously this: CNCF would not be here in such a wonderful state, but for Dan's constant efforts. Especially in the first 2-3 years. People may not remember this now, but some of our meetings were a bit like the wild west. A two horse town and a few strangers. But, it grew from there. Dan was front of house, bar manager, banker, sheriff and janitor all in one, as more people and projects joined. Without his commitment to community people would not have stayed as they did and made what you see today. Thank-you Dan.
Memories of Dan. Well mostly he was a font of quite embarrassing stories. Dan would tell these again and again, always watching with great care. The number one story was of course "how I invented e-commerce". It turns out that Dan, as a recent graduate, started an online shop selling CDs. This did not become Netflix or Amazon, but it did sell at least one CD -- by Sting. My heart warms imagining the scene where Dan "Dansplained" this to Sting some years later. (Yes really)
And then his family and kids. Dan was always talking about them with enormous pride. He would take his kids on protests in NY, and end up taking selfies with the politicians and other public figures he ran into. This was Dan all the way.
I worked w/ Dan on the foundations of the Linux Foundation Public Health. Even though I'm myself 40 years in computing, I decided to be his tea boy and learn from his clear vision and meticulous way of work. The fire he ignited will burn for a long time.
Dan taught me by example on how to be a leader in an open source foundation, with his focus on putting the community first and always making sure the work output reflected how much he put that community first. He was one of the few that would reach out with words of encouragement as I was navigating the foundations I was leading, and always willing to jump in as a speaker or make connections to help the community thrive.
Landscapes were one of his passions. I remember him helping me at a moments notice, proactively making adjustments and getting logos fixed to ensure it looked great ( along with the occasional lesson on SVG quality ;-) ). Even once it was launched, he would often get to pull requests faster than I could! I remember thanking him and telling him he didn't need to do that, and he told me "I enjoy it. It's the one part of my job that has clear outcomes."
Dan - you are gone ( too soon ) but will never be forgotten.
I met Dan in the summer of 2016. He was late to our appointment, having had a not-so-great briefing with a reporter who didn't seem to get what he was pitching. He was making the rounds, talking about Kubernetes and containers, and not everyone was ready to get on the bandwagon yet. He showed me the same deck that hadn't impressed that reporter and told me about his plans for CNCF, including holding big conferences around the world.
That day, he took a chance on me, a former celebrity magazine editor, figuring that even if I didn't know what a cluster was, I knew how to tell a story. And his plans included having many end users with stories to tell.
Sure enough, over the next few years, I wrote lots of case studies, and when we'd see each other at a KubeCon in Berlin or Shanghai, he'd give me a knowing smile: See? What did I tell you?
One of the last times I spoke to Dan, he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. That made me laugh then. But now I think of it as his way of saying that there's always more to do in life, new things to start, new stories to tell. Dan, I wish we'd been lucky enough to see everything you were going to do when you grew up. I'm grateful to have known you.
Working with Dan on the background bits of Prometheus over the years, he was always kind, smart, thoughtful, and to the point. CNCF would not nearly be the same without him. Dan shaped a large part of how technology will develop in the next years.
The last time we talked was a few months ago and he seemed unhappy, more concerned. Given how stressful life is, how he was bootstrapping LF Public Health, and how COVID had ravaged NYC, I brushed it off and didn't follow up more closely. If only I had...
Even more important than his technical legacy, he has a legacy in his family, in his children; it was always obvious how deeply he cared about them and I hope that they will look back - while not happily about the loss - happily and positively at the person, and about their shared time.
2020 is not the easiest of years and I will miss the banter, the shared passion, and the jokes. Goodbye friend, goodbye.
I bursted with tears when I read Julie's Tweet about Dan's passing. Like 1000s of others in the CNCF, and Open Source community, Dan had a mountainous impact on my life, career, goals, and studies. For the past three years, Dan had been my father figure. My days would start with exchanging a greeting with Dan enquiring "Hello Sir, How are you? How is your day over there?". We have chatted days into nights and nights into days, touching on every face of life, career, technology, community, and much more. He had been my true well wisher and been a great mentor all the while. He took a deep personal interest in my Kubernetes journey from the day we met, to the day of his passing. I couldn't imagine my days without Dan's presence. He has always been my go to person for anything Kubernetes, Docker, containers, and entire cloud native eco-system. He had one of the amazingly impressive personalities in my life. He was the beacon that guided me to CNCF Meetups. His deep personal interest in my learning has brought me to great heights in my journey, and gave me the wonderful and challenging opportunities to learn and explore the CNCF landscape. Dan strongly encouraged me to participate in every Kubernetes events and certifications. Dan was not only a tremendous leader but also a visionary leader. He was very kind to me and everyone out there. He has been a catalyst in sprint after sprint of my career. Like CNCF, I also forever grateful and thankful to Dan.
For the world, CNCF, and Open Source community, Dan always had been an extraordinary person. He will forever remain in the DNA of CNCF and Open Source community. Thank you very much Dan.
I only imagine that by now, in the afterlife, God and Dan having an intense brainstorming session about setting up a conference to make people happier, and bringing more joy to them. And, that his phone buzzes with Slack message in my signature words "Hello Sir, How are you ? How is your day over there ?"
I really miss you Dan. With tears and sadness.
I cannot remember the exact date when I met Dan for the first time, but it was in a very early stage of CNCF. Every time that I had a conversation with him it was very valuable, he always had something to help with, he was a truly open person, you could talk about everything, not just technology.
I always admired his dedication, the day before KubeCon US 2016 just started, late evening, I was walking around the venue and watching how all things were being prepared for the next big day. I walked into the main theater and Dan was on the stage practicing his speech for the next day, more than just watching I was analyzing how he approached the presentation like body expressions, story, movements, etc... I wanted to learn. At that moment he kept practicing over and over to reach perfection. That's the dedication that I admire, he was truly devoted to making things perfect through discipline.
While traveling around conferences, more than once he introduces me to his family, Julie, and the kids, he is really proud of them. I was glad to see that a very busy person, had his family as priority #1.
Dan was very supportive, I could see that in the open source community, he helped to shape a huge healthy ecosystem, Fluentd won't be the same without CNCF and his help...
He will be definitely missed, his labor in this world has ended and now I am sure he is in a 'higher' level of life. His time in this world made a positive impact on many people, and that is priceless.
I honestly cannot remember when I first met Dan. He was one of those people that seemed to be everywhere, helping with everything, at every Linux Foundation project and event.
He was a force for good and a force for improvement, and I will miss working with him.
The first time I spent a lot of time with Dan was at a rainy Amsterdam conference, Software Circus in 2017, when he had decided to try out ice sculpting project logos with chainsaws as a dry run for KubeCon. Well, not really a dry run in that rain. We spent a lot of time talking about project plans. He was a constant around the CNCF, and it is such a shock that he was taken from us, and from his family so young and so suddenly.
Unlike others before me, I did not have the good fortune to know Dan or meet or listen to him in person. However, I have known him through social media, news announcements and CNCF heroes and leaders I follow and respect; he was an inspiration and motivator to them, an inspiration to me. The technology he helped promote and foster, more importantly, the CNCF community and culture he built through collaboration, openness and inclusion. he left us an example and a legacy that will make his family, kids and us proud. Thank you, Dan, you will be missed.
Dan is a great helper when I joined the CNCF board, and I will always remember the meetings with Dan in Beijing, Shanghai, and San Francisco. Dan, thank you again for your leadership in building the cloud native computing communities. You will be definitely missed.
Dan was very friendly. I met with him several times in China. Thank him for the contribution in Open-Source.
Dan and I interacted 97% of the time on Slack though that added up to a lot over the past few years. I am yet another person who Dan found and brought on to the team with him believing in my abilities such that I too eventually believed. Like many others, I was touched by his kindness, his huge intellectual capacity, and the fact that he always seemed to be available, day and night. He seemed to have time and space for everyone. I got to hang out with him a few times doing things like touring Shanghai by bike and going to a Soul Cycle class in NYC. I miss working for him, his comments and approval, his attention to doing things completely and correctly, and I know it'll be a long while before I meet another mind like his.
Dan was a fighter, an evangelist, and a dreamer. He made something out of nothing and the coming decades will be built on a technology ecosystem he willed into being. I’ll miss arguing with him and working with him.
I met Dan when I was CEO of Cloud Foundry Foundation and we worked in close physical and corporate proximity - both of us depended on the Linux Foundation as a platform to drive all the things we were doing for our projects, and our projects were sometimes seen as competitors, but never by Dan or by me. I was the CNCF board member for Google and worked with him a lot in that role. He had a great combination of patience and stubbornness that was mandatory for the success of a giant collective with competing styles and interests. His devotion to his family was often evident and I learned from him in this domain - balancing his availability for work with his availability for his family.
Let's remember him kindly and keep his presence in our hearts.
He always towered over me but I never felt small. That’s how I remember Dan.
My first interaction with Dan was when he asked me to be a co-chair for KubeCon+CloudNativeCon in 2017. I worked closely with him and Kelsey Hightower on planning the events that year, the tracks, picking keynotes and sessions. While we were picking keynotes, Dan offered me a keynote slot. I think I indirectly said no to be honest thinking what in the world would I even say. Over the next few days, he brought it up repeatedly. I ended up taking that slot and doing so helped open opportunities in my career that did not previously exist but even more special to me, it gave me the confidence to share my opinions in any size room.
I learned a lot about conference planning from that experience and I was always in awe at how Dan cared about the aesthetics as much as he cared about the content. From the conference venue to the keynote stage and the gift bags, he was excited to make each part beautiful. He actively sought advice on all aspects of the event. He was creative and always open to new ideas. He took feedback with no ego involved and no one executed the way Dan executed. Take a look at pictures of any keynote stage at any KubeCon+CloudNativeCon event for evidence.
Shortly after completing my role as co-chair, I also became one of the two Developer Representatives on the CNCF Governing Board. I had never been on any board and being a software engineer, I felt sort of out of place amongst the VPs and CEOs sitting next to me at board meetings. Dan gave me the utmost respect and showed me the ropes. I have these mixed feelings now because there were times where I disagreed with him. Looking back, the way that he empowered me though even when I disagreed with him was incredible. He always gave me the platform to voice my opinions on the board and in all settings.
Dan fought hard to make the foundation and the conference places where the people and the projects in the community could flourish and places that were safe and inclusive. He made it public that he supported all people. He never hesitated to take a stand. He did the same thing behind the scenes too. It was admirable to see Dan in board meetings not afraid to propose, defend, and execute bold investments to increase diversity and inclusion in the CNCF.
I don’t remember Dan ever reflecting on the kind of impact he was making but I do know many people have similar stories to mine because Dan opened a lot of doors. He opened lots of doors for people all over the world from all backgrounds. He quietly forever changed the lives of many without taking any credit and I believe he is in large part responsible for the kind of diversity we see in the Cloud Native community. Dan was generous with his time, his knowledge, his privilege and his resources. His loss is grave but his legacy is beautiful. My thoughts are with his family.
I first met Dan during KubeCon/ CloudNativeCon in Seattle in 2015. Since then, I've witnessed his passion to grow this community adhering to the values of diversity and inclusion. When KubeCon returned to Seattle in 2016 and again in 2019, the results were clear. I also got a chance to hear more about his kids and their passions during KubeCon Vancouver, where my kids took the programming session along with his. I will always remember Dan for his passion, energy, and honesty. You will be missed, Dan!
I met Dan Kohn as the CNCF was forming in late summer of 2016. Over the last 4 years, I was lucky enough to learn from, interact with and collaborate with Dan on many occasions. Dan was an incredibly authentic and sincere leader, relentlessly kind and understanding, incredibly hard working and deeply intelectually curious. I am still in shock that Dan is gone. Dan offered a great deal of feedback, insight and advice in the early days and developments of OSS Capital, as well as in my own personal professional evolution. He was a friend, a gentleman and a great human. Dan's work positively affected the lives of millions.
Dan and I didn't always see eye to eye on things. That was probably a healthy thing for the community and maybe not so much our relationship. But, Dan Kohn (along with CNCF) saved my career in 2017. I was coming out of a role I left due to several reasons. The day before Thanksgiving, the company I was starting with the coming Monday rescinded their offer after a fairly long courtship. Jobless, as the sole breadwinner in your household, is never where you want to be. I knew I needed to be at KubeCon the following week to job hunt and network. After naively asking on Twitter how I could somehow procure a ticket. Dan DM'd me for details, made sure I had what I needed once I got to Austin, and covered the hotel so I could actively job hunt and network without the guilt of leaving the family behind. That trip lead to me becoming a CNCF Ambassador (thank you goes to Jorge Castro for telling me to apply).
Dan stuck up for Ambassadors too, even in the face of enormous pressure. We are humans; we aren't robots. If we shared opinions about certain vendors, yes, we might get a phone call one day from the head of CNCF while we're both at airports (I was at Logan, he was at Kennedy if memory serves) asking to put a disclaimer at the top. But, CNCF members have fundamental human rights; Dan was never going to censor an ambassador. That let me know I was in the right place. I needed to put even more effort into this community. To give back for helping my family and me in our time of need. We don't forget things like Dan getting me into KubeCon Austin 2017 or telling vendors people can share their opinions.
Dan was one of the folks out there trying to take the skills and talents they had to try to make the world a better place. Agree or disagree on anything, sure. But, I respect the hell out of someone like Dan. His impact has been made. Dan Kohn's legacy is a sea change in the technology landscape like the world hadn't seen since the introduction of the Linux kernel. Dan will truly be missed.
I met Dan shortly after he became Executive Director at the CNCF. His influence was swift, powerful, intuitive, direct and, most importantly, driven 100% by positive energy. Dan transformed and shaped the CNCF in perhaps its most formative and critical window. The result was one of the fastest growing and most important software organiztions in history. His dna will remain in the organization for the rest of its existence.
More importantly to me personally was the way Dan set an example for folks around him. He showed people that you can be kind, understanding, open minded and sensitive while still being frank, fierce and driven in business. I was very happy to be in his orbit and have sympathy for anyone who may have had to compete with him. As driven as he was, he always had time for CNCF members and, really, people in general. You didn't have to be the CEO of X, Y or Z to get a kind, encouraging word from Dan or a minute of his time. He was always out front, one step ahead, and yet open to sharing his views and insight with everyone.
We could use more people in this world with Dan's outstanding character, intellect and kindness. I missed him the day he left the CNCF and will miss him so much more now.
Dan was a giant in our community, and his influence over the CNCF and the broader open source world was tremendous.
I will forever be grateful to Dan for the life-changing opportunity he gave me to be be co-chair of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in 2018. He later encouraged me to stand for the TOC, a role I'm not sure I'd have had the confidence to aspire to without his support.
Our paths crossed many times all around the world, usually at CNCF events. Dan loved to travel, and he would make the most of every trip. I was lucky enough to be part of his entourage on a memorable sightseeing tour around Bangalore. There was a day trip from Seoul where we originally planned to visit the DMZ but, due to a combination of swine flu and fog, the closest we got was a very indistinct view of North Korea through binoculars from an observation point across the river. In Australia, Dan persuaded me to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge despite my fear of heights; sadly that idea had to be abandoned due to fires in the area at the time. (Climate change was another thing he cared about deeply, and I remember him commenting that the smoke and wild-fire situation was like being in a post-apocalyptic future, except that it wasn't the future.) He was a regular at SoulCycle, and if there was a branch in town he'd usually talk a few of us into getting up in the morning to join him for a class.
He was incredibly proud of his family, and I think we all felt we got to know them a little bit through Dan - remember his keynote about Minecraft?
As other folks have mentioned, Dan really was the driving force behind diversity initiatives in the CNCF, and that's a huge part of what makes it the welcoming community, and ultimately the success, that it is today. He worked tirelessly to build the ecosystem and encourage folks to get involved at whatever level was right for them. Dan had time for everyone, whether they were a senior exec from a cloud vendor, or a student figuring out the first steps in their career.
This year it was amazing to see his determination in building LF Public Health. He had it up and running in such a short time, convincing people, projects and health partners to work together under the LF umbrella. Yet another example of how Dan made a positive impact on the world.
Thank you, Dan.
Words can’t express how saddened, I was to hear our loss. Dan had incredible an impact on the open-source community, introducing the diversity and the equity, he revolutionized. When we look a the way run through all the difficulties and challenges, we can only say thank you Dan.
In 2016 when I and my colleagues had decided to open source our internal tools, Kubespray, we started looking how we can contribute more to the community. I first met Dan and Chris over a call to understand the CNCF vision and discuss how we can help.He was an Open mind to us, great support, and help us to create the CNCF France.
I had met Dan Kohn personally at every KubeCon. Every time he was kind he take time to discuss and listen to us, he was grateful for our effort thanked me for the work we were doing, and our effort to spread the CNCF vision in France.
My deepest thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with his family.
I am saddened by Dan's passing, and it brings to mind one of my own adventures with him. Once upon a time, an open source company capsized suddenly due to their gross mismangement. Their software was popular but while it was open source, it was also under a license that was going to prevent its uptake. The community wanted to fight for it, so I floated an idea by Dan: could the Linux Foundation somehow buy the resources of the dead company from whatever investor ended up with them? Dan's response was Dan at his finest: he loved to be at the confluence of corporate and open source interests, and the ability to liberate an open source community from a corporate carcass felt like a role that he was born to play. He embraced it enthusastically and performed masterfully: he got an incredible deal, managing to purchase not just the software but quite literally every piece of intellectual property owned by the dead company, bringing the project into the Linux Foundation and relicensed it in a single stroke. Some feathers were rankled (largely by rival companies thinking that favorites were being played), but Dan stood by it: he knew -- and I knew -- that there was an open source community at the other end of this transaction, one that deserved to control its own fate.
I didn't always agree with Dan, but I also never questioned his commitment to finding sustainable pathways for open source within the broader corporate world; the open source world is worse for having lost him. And beyond his technical contribution, Dan was unfailingly decent: my heart goes out to his family, who has prematurely lost a devoted husband and father.
Dan was Mr. CNCF. Under Dan’s tutelage, CNCF is where it is today, one of the most successful open source foundation. Dan was one of the nicest gentleman I have met. Always extremely supportive and went out of his way to make things happen. Dan, you will be sorely missed by everyone. It was an honor to have interacted with you all this time. May your soul rest in peace! Lastly, my deep condolences to Dan’s family.
I was shocked and very saddened to learn of Dan's passing.
I first saw Dan speak at KubeCon Berlin 2017 and many other CNCF events in recent years. It was great to meet Dan in person in Seoul last year at one of the conferences, and I can say that his presence and leadership in the CNCF and Linux Foundation were vital to making them thriving and inclusive communities.
The world has lost a powerful force for diversity in tech, open source software and its ecosystem. Thank you, Dan. We'll miss you and my thoughts and prayers are with your family.
I have known Dan since 2016. Our encounters these past few years look like a round-the-world chase - Austin, Barcelona, Beijing, Bengaluru, Berlin, Half Moon Bay, Lake Tahoe, Lyon, Prague, San Diego, Seoul, Shenzhen, Tokyo, ... and Dan made himself available, no matter how impossible his schedule might be. He possesses so many positive traits behind that big friendly smile. He is the gentle giant we wish we have as a friend. Rest well my friend.
On behalf of SODA Foundation...
You believed in us when all we had was an idea. You encouraged us when the going got tough. You guided us when we got lost. You inspired us. You will continue to inspire us...
Thank You SODA Foundation
I had the fortune of working closely with Dan on various projects for the past several years. First, establishing a Telecom strategy for the CNCF, then with the LFPH, helping develop its initial direction and organizing potential new companies to join. While we didn't always agree on an approach, he would spend the time to share and receive feedback gently. He was thoughtful about his delivery and made the time to make sure others would benefit personally and professionally.
Despite his high impact and towering presence in the community, he was always the most humble person in the room. Instead, his real pride and joy was his family. In our private conversations, he never missed an opportunity to say something nice about his sons.
His departure profoundly saddens me, and we will deeply miss him.
A lot of people have told stories about Dan on stage or at conferences. Let me tell you a story about working with Dan. I had just joined CNCF and was finding my feet with helping the SIGs get up and running, and there were a lot of moving parts. I don't know if people have told you this, but Dan was Particular about how things were run. I was always a bit on my feet about making sure we were moving in a direction that was aligned with the organization, even on the smallest pieces.
One October morning, I woke up to a message from Dan.
"Amye, we have one sacred rule for creating new GitHub repos. Puns must be involved."
That was Dan. That was Dan, every day. That's his care for community, the care for the smallest things, and making sure you understood who you were being in community as we helped everyone move forward. Thanks, friend.
Dan had an outsized impact on so many of us. The community he built, that I was part of, is a legacy that most of us can only aspire to. Despite everything he had achieved, he was remarkably down-to-earth; he had a knack for putting everyone around him at ease, making you feel genuinely welcomed with a ready smile and laugh (that laugh!). It was a privilege to have known Dan, and been a small part of his life journey. Godspeed, Dan.
I met Dan for the first time this year when he came to India with his kids, I have talked to him on slack a few times and he has always motivated me, answered my queries and always encouraged me to do better. The things that he did for CNCF is remarkable due to which it has grown to become the best. His work has always inspired everyone to be a better human being. Thank you, Dan.
I met Dan the first time in person at KubeCon EU 2019 in Barcelona. I was super surprised that he was truly friendly and approachable as a senior executive. Later that year, I met Dan again in person at the open source summit NA 2019 in San Diego, along with his beautiful wife and kids. Dan is such a positive person and always willing to help when I have any questions about CNCF. It was a priviledge to have known Dan and Dan inspired me to be humble, approachable and welcoming when interacting with others. Thank you, Dan.
Miss you, always, your passion and your smile.
Dan goes the extra mile in helping and caring for the people and communities. I would like to recall an incident in mid 2019 where we (GDG Cloud, Bangalore) were looking for a large enough venue to host the upcoming DevFest conference scheduled later that year. Having attended Kubernetes Day India held at Infosys earlier in 2019, where I really liked the arrangements made, I just shot an email to Nikhita (K8s contributor) who connected me to Dan. He just replied on top of the email connecting me to the Infosys facility head and helped me with the venue setup and eventually conducting the event. What I wanted to convey is, Dan reached out to help anyone and everyone even if he had not physically met or connected with that person or even if the event had any connection whatsoever with CNCF. He was a true champion for making tech communities better everywhere. Thank you so much Dan!
I had shared a #KubeCon wish via a tweet. I received a response almost immediately the same day; https://twitter.com/dankohn1/status/990304786313633793?s=20 from the other far corner of the world. This was in April of 2018. My first and only encounter with Dan. I had never met Dan and he never new me. I felt his kindness from right there and then. It was really sad to find out early this year of his departure. We do miss you intensely.
Thank you. Thank you for inspiring so many people around the world. Thank you for your great work in tech. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. Rest well Dan.
I meet him in person by change in some OSSUMMIT, he gave me some pointers for me career that have change my life for good, surely will be miss.