From Chris Chepken

I'm not writing on this thread late because I had not seen it but because I have been in denial for a while. "That is what Edwin and I are paid to do". These are the words that Gary Marsden said to me around two years ago when I was in the plateau of doing my PhD (These are the days I was hating myself for deciding to do PhD). I had been stuck for over two weeks about making a Computer Science contribution in a purely ICT4D research and Gary, by just saying these words, propelled my work till the end of my PhD. Every time I felt there was a problem, I repeated the words "That is what Edwin and I are paid to do". That is Gary for me. He started and finished my supervision in style. He made me feel at home too. It is not only PhD and academic knowledge that I acquired from Gary. He thought me how to be humble and gentle on people. He thought me how to how very playful kids are a beauty of parenting! (believe it or not). I recall the day he invited us for a braai in his home and the his kids were playful. After several chats (about movies, racing etc etc ) with various people, he reached me and asked "Chris, you have kids right? how old?". My answer was yes. His response changed the way I look at kids today. He explained to me that the beauty of parenting is to have playful kids and being there for them. To Gill and Holly & Jake, your husband and father respectively, loved you. I got that from his many mentions about you and many of his encouraging messages. He kept telling me that he knew how hard it was for me to leave my young family back home! This always indicated to me how much he valued his own. He knew the beauty of being good parents, and he shared it with me and I'm practicing it thousands of miles away. I know Gary, through the angels from the almighty God is practicing the same where he is.

From Bryan Paisley

2014 began for me in a horrible manner with the tragic news of Gary's death. Given I hadn't seen or spoken with Gary for about twenty five years, this may seem an odd reaction but it's a measure of the man that, despite this period of time, I am so profoundly saddened by his death.

I know Gary through the 1st Whitehead Sea Scouts back in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. He was a couple of years ahead of me at school (although in retrospect, only eighteen months older which seems like nothing when you're in your forties) - this made made him a relative elder and someone who, as I got to know him, I really looked up to.

The most profound impact Gary had on me was sharing his love of music and encouraging me by example to explore new things and not necessarily follow the herd.

We shared a love of Bruce Springsteen and spent a great deal of time discussing 'Born to Run' - his favourite track was 'Junglelands' and I recall him describing the artistry in the lyrics in some depth.

He also greatly appreciated Jim Steinman's talent in composing Meat Loaf's album 'Bat out of Hell' and discussed at some length his 'Bad for Good' side project. Back in the days before the internet, getting information on these sort of things was really tough but Gary always seemed to know what was going on.

I recall other distinctive favourites of Gary's from the time were Billy Joel, The Doors, Big Country and Dio (see photo attached of Gary in 1985 in a Dio t-shirt - try as I might, I never got it with them).

I also remember his enthusiasm for playing music, whether it was the Casio keyboard with the revolutionary new sampler (which we managed to use in a number of extremely puerile manners) or trying to play U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' on an old accordion.

I have happy memories undertaking the usual range of scouting activities with Gary - the international jamboree at Portumna in 1985, the annual Easter camp at Castlerock, the camping, trip to the Isle of Man, sailing GP14s at Lough Neagh along with the weekly meetings in the scout hut in Whitehead.

I attach a photo from a troop visit to St Patrick's barracks, Ballymean in (about) 1983 - Gary back row, second from left)

I'd never have seen him much outside Scouts but would always keep an eye out for him on the roads around Whitehead and Ballycarry in his distinctive Morris Minor, 'Simply Red'.

I lost touch with Gary after he left Northern Ireland to go to university in Stirling in 1988 and haven't seen him since.

Being a) Northern Irish and b) at the time, male teenagers, it wouldn't have been in either of our emotional comfort zones for me to express how much his friendship meant to me or how highly I thought of him.

He was (as we are want to say in Northern Ireland) great craic - but in addition to this he was intelligent, supportive, capable. A leader by example rather than by words.

Reading the other posts on this blog and the comments on Twitter, I can see how Gary has continued in this manner down the years and has meant so much to so many people.

I am not surprised in the least by the great things Gary has achieved since I knew him or by the evident degree of profound sadness which his untimely death has caused so many people.

My thoughts are with his family (and his wife and children in particular).

From Margaret Young

I wanted to chime in on what you are saying about Gary being approachable to students even as he was so important in the field. He was very kind to me, even though in those moments he must have had an enormous number of things to do halfway through the conference. His passing is saddening even though I did not know him well, because I was able to catch a glimpse of what a warm and present man he was. 

From Dorothea Kleine

Gary passing away so early is a terrible loss.  Our heart-felt condolences go to his family, and also the UCT community and his wider “family” of colleagues, current and former students and collaborators. 

It was a great pleasure to work with Gary on previous ICTD conferences and to witness his commitment to making them both excellent and inclusive. Just this December he was a terrific host, together with Julian May, when the ICT4D community came together at ICTD2013 on UCT’s campus. Gary radiated friendliness and joy at having brought people together for a great event, while characteristically also cracking jokes about the colourful shirts the chairs had chosen as their uniform.

One of the last times I saw Gary was when we were watching the livestream of the memorial event honouring Nelson Mandela on the big screen in one of the conference lecture halls and discussing future collaborations among a number of colleagues. While we were talking and watching the event, it was impossible to not sense the call to continue the ongoing struggle for social change.   

Like many, I have benefitted intellectually from Gary’s publications and admired the powerful combination of progressive commitment and technical expertise that characterised his work. Most of all, Gary was a leader because of what he stood for and modelled in his behaviour: a sharp intellect combined with a big heart, a clear commitment to mentoring, a great sense of humour, and a passion for co-creating change. Gary no doubt leaves a huge hole in our midst – and also an important legacy.  

From Andrew Maunder

My first conversation with Gary was in 2002. I had booked a 'career guidance' session with him to discuss whether or not I should pursue the ergonomics program at Rhodes University. My question was simple, "What career opportunities are available for someone specialising in ergonomics in South Africa?". His answer was succinct, "Not many in South Africa". He then suggested that I pursue usability and interaction design as it could be seen as the equivalent to ergonomics within the technology space. He believed that there was a growing need for usability/interaction design specialists in South Africa and that it would be a dynamic and lucrative career path; he was right!

I want to say thank you to Gaz for that first pearl of wisdom. I really enjoy the work I do and I'm deeply thankful for his great insight and his willingness to take a real interest in his student's lives and more specifically, my life. 

I'm sure we've all had moments where Gary's words impacted some key decisions in our lives. What makes it all the more wonderful is that God decided to wrap the wisdom in the form of a witty Irishman with a friendly face and golden heart, what a gift.

A few of us in the lab used to joke that Gary's face should be the new face of computer science. Friendly and approachable. I mean, who are you going to choose to speak to for career guidance, the witty Irishman or a grumpy old professor. Add his big heart to his friendly face and you've got a magical formula. I think that is why we were all drawn to him.

I was fortunate enough to spend many years working with Gary at UCT ; so many good memories. 

Here are some of the highlights: Working as Gaz's intern at Microsoft Research, driving in the 'wedge' (Honda 2-door car), flying to San Francisco and chatting about relationships, trying to get a union worker to move a power socket in Florence over lunch, visiting the GooglePlex, watching QI in a transit hotel room, falling asleep whilst stretching for a drink on a BA flight, learning about the Oregon monster shroom, watching Trumpton with Jake and Holly in Cambridge, discovering Jaffa cakes and fizzy water, good coffee, graduation day. 

The list could go on and on. Gil, Holly and Jake, you would often feature in our conversations - he loved you immensely, spoke of you often and he was an incredibly proud husband and father.

Gaz mate, you were a man of great faith, you were an inspirational teacher, caring mentor, distinguished academic and a fantastic friend. My life is better because of you.

Rest in peace with the Father in heaven knowing that your life has meant much and that your absence is greatly felt by so many. 

From Lesley Green

I had the privilege of working with colleagues in CS on two projects, one with Gary and Edwin in 2004, and the other being Ilda Ladeira’s PhD (2012) which I co-supervised under Gary’s leadership. Both projects were a delight and characterised by immense creativity and collegiality, notwithstanding the tall order of learning how to trust another disciplinary mode of constructing an evidentiary, and working out how to respond to different kinds of disciplinary concerns. Gary’s collegiality continues to be a benchmark for me in trans-disciplinary work.

Besides his great strengths in his fields of work, Gary’s ability to understand how science could put people first was a major contribution to working out what form transdisciplinarity could take at UCT, and his loss for UCT and indeed the continent, is incalculable.  I wish my colleagues in CS and the Faculty strength and clarity of heart and mind in the months ahead as you grieve and work out how to regroup and find a road ahead to memorialise this extraordinary colleague, and continue to develop the ethical, grounded, scholarly imaginaries that he brought to CS, and the University as a whole.

From Moses Sitati

This is tragic news.

Starting in 2010 I worked with Gary and other colleagues to set up a University-Industry collaboration between Nokia Research Center and UCT through the ICT4D lab. Over numerous visits Gary was a wonderful host at UCT and at home, volunteer realtor/tour guide around Cape Town, professional colleague, and ultimately, a friend. I was inspired by his students and research, entertained by his stories and experiences, touched by his warmth and family, challenged by his faith and mind.

Thanks for cutting out the window in the office for me. It was definitely much more than that.

Till we meet again.