Friday, February 06, 2009

Shawn C. Dodd

Tonight I received news you are never prepared for. One of my long time best friends from Austin committed suicide Wednesday night. This is my third time to be exposed to suicide, a concept I'll never understand, and the first time from a friend this close to me. It saddens me to think how dark a place he must have been in.

Shawn was my first office mate in my first job out of college at pcOrder and we became very close when I lived in Austin. He even took over the room I was renting when Jacki and I got married. After pcOrder I had Shawn come and work with me at two other jobs and had the great pleasure of relocating him to Los Angeles for a few years to work for me at Helio. He was one of the smartest people I've ever known and I enjoyed each and every day I worked with him. I used to tell him he is my resident smart guy, and just having him around made me feel smarter.

Unfortunately we had a bit of a falling out towards the end of his time in LA, but in the last few weeks we had begun to exchange emails again and it seemed like I was talking to my friend again of many years.

Shawn was also a dear friend of Jacki's, taking her out in Austin when I would travel for business and looking out for her when I wasn't around. He came to our wedding and shared many memories with Jacki and I including dinners, concerts, and even vacations.

Last night Jacki invited me out to a dinner with her and one of her friends at one of our favorite spots, El Cholo. It was nice because one of my last great memories of Shawn in Los Angeles was he and I celebrating at El Cholo after giving a successful business pitch. This past December he sent me a congratulations note because the business pitch we gave became a reality nearly 18 months later.

We loved Shawn and will miss him dearly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

11 comments:

C. G. Brown said...

I was shocked and saddened to hear this. Shawn was a brilliant and gentle soul whose company I always enjoyed, and who I learned a lot from at pcO. I'll miss the guy.

Anonymous said...

I REMEMBER THE WONDERFUL TIME WE ALL HAD AT YOUR WEDDING :>) ...I too, don't understand...Take care. All of you will be in my heart and prayers.

Love, Mom xxxooo

Neil said...

I met Shawn at pcO and got to know him better when he consulted for us at Seilevel. He was incredibly smart and his loss is felt half a world away. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends!

Anonymous said...

Shawn had so much talent and the heart and entrepreneurial sprit to do great things with his life. I'm better for having known him as a colleague and friend. David, my sincere condolences on your personal loss. My heart and prayers go out to his family.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your post, Dave. I share your sadness over the loss of Shawn. We became friends in Seattle over a common interest in red wine, good food and live music. He is dearly missed.
Stephanie Maxson, Dallas, TX

CEO said...

Oh now Dave, oh no :-( This saddens me. Shawn was truly one of the smarted and sharpest individuals and developers I've ever me. I am so sorry to hear this. Very sorry :-(

Phil Gilbert said...

Shawn was brilliant and troubled and funny as hell. It's trite to say, but I'm really sad about this. I knew and liked Shawn but I was endeared to him the day he sent me a reply to one of my email rants at pcOrder. He said "Wow. You used a semicolon in an email... and you used it correctly!" I've told that story many times. Until now, it made me laugh.

John Fulwider said...

There are some nice reflections about Shawn at another friend's site, http://www.hainsworth.com/2009/02/in-memoriam-shawn-c-dodd/

Kai Mantsch said...

Another post about Shawn

Voss Family said...

I am so sorry to hear this! My thoughts are with you guys!

Unknown said...

I just heard the tragic and horrible news.

It makes me incredibly sad to hear. I remember him as the smiling, kind, brilliant, funny, coctail party host at pcO.

I'm thankfull I got to know him. I'm also glad I got to "talk" to him again in Jan '08 when I found him on linkedin.

Regretfully my wife and I haven't made it back to Austin since we moved home to Norway 10 years ago - but we're planning to finally go next year. Shawn was one of the guys I was hoping to maybe see again.

I can't believe that such a decent, friendly, good guy in gone. What tragedy.

Hvil i fred Shawn.
-Per Atle

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