Tribute to John Elliott Emanuel

My beloved older brother and my dearest friend.

John skiing in the USA with friends, 2000.

Here's John skiing early in 2000 in the United States with friends from Bishop's College School (high school). John kept in touch with his friends.
Back row (l to r): David Creighton, John de Paul, the Fenton brothers.
Front row (l to r): Darcy Lorimer, John Emanuel. Photograph courtesy of Darcy Lorimer.

John was a computer programmer. At the time of his death, he worked as a database analyst and administrator for Jeppesens in Denver, Colorado. John worked mainly with massive IBM mainframe machines which he called Big Iron, Big Mama, and sometimes Big Daddy-O. He worked in many far-flung locations during his career: Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide in Australia; Hong Kong and Malaysia in South East Asia; San Francisco and Denver in the United States; and Montreal, Victoria, and Vancouver in Canada.

He started writing code in his teens using Radio Shack components he soldered together himself in true early-hacker style, that of the enthusiastic hobbyist. He'd sit for hours at my parents' old diningroom table which was crammed into the corner of his bedroom in Dorval, a suburb of Montreal, Canada. He went on to study commerce at Concordia University. For spare cash he delivered cars for Hertz Rent-a-Car and pizzas for Dorval Pizzeria. He loved the submarine sandwiches at Dorval Pizzeria.

John's greatest love was always alpine skiing and he was a master. No one else even comes close to his ability. Olympians. Professionals. He skied rings around them. He skied just about everywhere in the world that had snow. He never got to ski Europe but that was on his list of things to do.

As well, John took many solo bicycling trips: across Tasmania and across The Rockies. He planned to cycle a famous and dangerous route from China to Pakistan as soon as he could find someone loony enough to go with him. He hiked a lot, also, and sea kayaked when he lived near an ocean. He generally ran a few kilometers almost every day. John was Mister Fitness.

John died of an enlarged heart. One night his heart just stopped working. He was with his girlfriend at the time. She did everything she could to save him, using CPR and calling the paramedics. The doctors say that he did not suffer at all. He was 43 years old. He was my best friend in the world.

At the time of his death, one of John's favourite songs was Army from the Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner album by Ben Folds Five. He sang it to me on the phone and we cracked up laughing. He was reading George Orwell's Burmese Days and Pico Iyer's Video Night in Kathmandu. Of course, he was always reading The Economist.

John had a lot of very colourful neckties. At his memorial weekend, everyone wore one or more of John's ties and took some home with them. Generally, John was a snappy dresser and had great shoes. He's the only person I know who owned, and wore, canary yellow jeans. They looked great on him.

It's seems like hyperbole, but it's not. John never, ever had a nasty thing to say about anyone. His viewpoint was always positive and he believed in good things, good people, and a good world. He was inspiring and always a riot to be with. Of course, I'll never stop missing him.

See Karel Klinka's VTAB site for a look at some of John's work. VTAB is a specialized computer program developed for the University of British Columbia's Forestry Department. Karel Klinka added an acknowledgement of John's work to the site. Viva VTAB!

See Schema Plus for a look at a massively cool project John developed and worked on right up until he died. Schema is a translation tool for diagramatics. There is no other program like it in the world. John was a visionary of no small scope which motivated his intense genius and natural talent. Viva Schema!

A Quebec section of the Trans-Canada Trail has been dedicated to John. Take a look the panel with his name on it whenever you're in Montreal's Old Port. Take a hike, ride your bike, in-line skate, and by all means possible, go skiing and think of John. Sections are dedicated to Chris and Dad, also.

If you like, you can visit Dorval High School and take a look at their memorial page for mentions of John and Chris.

If you want to do something in memory of John, please donate to The Heart Foundation. Maybe they'll find a cure for what ailed him and someone will be saved. Or, donate to a local charity so that you can see his memory live on firsthand.