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Posted by Peter Anders on November 29, 1999 at 10:39:42:
I met Nik a few years ago at ACM in Boston over lunch with Perry Hoberman. Nik was one of those human social centers, a nexus of friendships and affiliations. He even knew Bucky Fuller when he was little (a friend of the family.) He remembered Bucky's eyes looking at him through bottle-bottom glasses, owl-like, as he bounced on his knee. The guy was connected through his activities to a lot of other folks - he'd even worked with Nam June Paik! Since our meeting in Boston, Nik and I corresponded by email, egging each other into different projects. I got him to contribute to my book, Envisioning Cyberspace, and he presented at the ISEA panel at ISEA '97 with Jim Leftwich, Gerhard Eckel and myself. I'd get together with him when I'd go to New York to keep up with the buzz. Whenever I'd go to some conference and see him there, I'd know the conference would be great. He was a good guide to what was what.
What makes his departure so sad, surprising even,is that suicide is the last sign of despair. You'd never have guessed it from what I knew of him. He was funny, engaged and engaging. Alive. And I'll never know how many friends I would have made if he'd stuck around.
Ptr.
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