Brendan Kehoe: an appreciation
(published in the Sunday Business Post - 24 July 2011)
Brendan Kehoe, who has died at the age of 40, was an Irish-American software developer, author and educationalist.
Born in Dublin in 1970, he moved to the US as a child after the death of his father in a car crash.
He became interested in computers at an early age. In the early 1990s, when the internet was largely confined to universities and corporations, he was quick to see its wider potential. At the age of 22, he wrote Zen and the Art of the Internet, which was acclaimed as one of the first guides to the internet for a general audience.
In 1993, he suffered serious brain injuries in a car crash. His doctors feared that he might never again lead an independent life. He made a full recovery.
Brendan’s passion for emerging technology led him to a distinguished career as a software engineer, working at companies such as Cygnus Solutions, a pioneering developer of free, open-source software.
In 1999, he moved to Dublin along with his wife, Elana. The couple’s two sons, Patrick and Eoin, attended the Dalkey School Project, where Brendan quickly became the resident IT expert, providing generous technical assistance to staff and pupils. His involvement with the school deepened, and he became chairperson of its board of management. He was later appointed to the national board of Educate Together, where he helped to develop national strategies for IT education in schools.
In March of this year, Brendan was diagnosed with leukaemia and began a challenging course of treatment. As someone who had, for so long, felt at home in the online world, it felt natural for him to document his experiences in digital media. From the first day, he blogged about his illness on the website zen.org.
There, he gave an intimate, honest and moving account of all stages of his disease, from the initial shock of diagnosis to the sometimes arduous routines of his treatment.
Readers of his blog were given an insight into the life of a cancer patient in a strained health system, from the fatigue and boredom to the blandness and monotony of hospital food. He demonstrated, too, his undiminished curiosity and ingenuity, describing his pleasure at cracking the restrictions on the hospital’s wi-fi system, the development of his first Android app and the books that continued to absorb him until his final days.
The comments of his blog’s readers, and the responses to his tweets, show how deeply his experiences resonated with others. Since news of his death emerged, there has been a steady stream of online tributes, many from people he had never met in person.
Brendan is survived by Elana, Patrick and Eoin.
Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa is chairperson of Educate Together
Brendan Kehoe, who has died at the age of 40, was an Irish-American software developer, author and educationalist.
Born in Dublin in 1970, he moved to the US as a child after the death of his father in a car crash.
He became interested in computers at an early age. In the early 1990s, when the internet was largely confined to universities and corporations, he was quick to see its wider potential. At the age of 22, he wrote Zen and the Art of the Internet, which was acclaimed as one of the first guides to the internet for a general audience.
In 1993, he suffered serious brain injuries in a car crash. His doctors feared that he might never again lead an independent life. He made a full recovery.
Brendan’s passion for emerging technology led him to a distinguished career as a software engineer, working at companies such as Cygnus Solutions, a pioneering developer of free, open-source software.
In 1999, he moved to Dublin along with his wife, Elana. The couple’s two sons, Patrick and Eoin, attended the Dalkey School Project, where Brendan quickly became the resident IT expert, providing generous technical assistance to staff and pupils. His involvement with the school deepened, and he became chairperson of its board of management. He was later appointed to the national board of Educate Together, where he helped to develop national strategies for IT education in schools.
In March of this year, Brendan was diagnosed with leukaemia and began a challenging course of treatment. As someone who had, for so long, felt at home in the online world, it felt natural for him to document his experiences in digital media. From the first day, he blogged about his illness on the website zen.org.
There, he gave an intimate, honest and moving account of all stages of his disease, from the initial shock of diagnosis to the sometimes arduous routines of his treatment.
Readers of his blog were given an insight into the life of a cancer patient in a strained health system, from the fatigue and boredom to the blandness and monotony of hospital food. He demonstrated, too, his undiminished curiosity and ingenuity, describing his pleasure at cracking the restrictions on the hospital’s wi-fi system, the development of his first Android app and the books that continued to absorb him until his final days.
The comments of his blog’s readers, and the responses to his tweets, show how deeply his experiences resonated with others. Since news of his death emerged, there has been a steady stream of online tributes, many from people he had never met in person.
Brendan is survived by Elana, Patrick and Eoin.
Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa is chairperson of Educate Together
posted by Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa at 12:59
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