From Isabel Venter

I am profoundly saddened that the South African Computer Science community has lost someone so talented as Gary Marsden and that his team at University of Cape Town (UCT) will now be without their talented mentor. Gary’s work was inspirational and I often referred to his work and his innovative approach to Interaction Design when teaching Human Computer Interaction to final year undergraduate students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).

When my daughter, Anja, was considering doing an interdisciplinary masters degree at Leiden in the Netherlands and was worried about the funding for this international degree, I suggested that she should contact Gary to find out if there were any such opportunities at UCT.  He pointed her to Marion Walton under whose able leadership she completed her masters degree in 2012 .  During her masters studies and in 2013 when she started with a PhD (with him as co-supervisor) she was so fortunate to be able to work in his research laboratory and with his guidance, contribute to some of his projects. Anja often spoke of her wonderful interaction with him and his team and she was devastated by the news of his untimely death.

I only met Gary on a few occasions at conferences and workshops – most recently at an ICT4D conference, which he so ably and successfully hosted. He was a warm and inspirational person – and I especially appreciated his inclusivity.

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to his family, Gill and his two children Holly and Jake .  His family was very dear to him and he often referred to them in his conversations with his students and colleagues.  His death is a personal loss to many - family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances.