In memory of Jeff Goldsmith

My speech at the service (as I recall it)

We’re here today to celebrate the life of Jeff Goldsmith.  Jeff was a man who created circles of friends from individuals that shared his interest and passions.  I was fortunate to belong to three of those groups.  RPI, JPL/Caltech … I’m cheating a bit there by combining the two … and gamers.  I’m thinking about taking up Ice Dancing after this, but we’ll see how that goes.

So I started thinking about stories from those associations that would help describe the kind of person Jeff was, and it seemed that starting at the beginning would be best.  RPI, freshman year, Jeff and I for various reasons were there well ahead of the rest of the freshman class.  I was 17, he was 16.  It was a little intimidating meeting someone that started his own company at 13, but he seemed like a decent enough guy.  And that was the beginning of four years of friendship, including living in the same apartment our senior year.  There were a number of stories about our RPI years I could tell.

But then I thought perhaps the JPL/Caltech connection would be better.  After all, Jeff recruited me into JPL.  When I moved to California to take the job, we bought a house together and rented a room to a Caltech grad student named Jeff Stern.  People called us the three musketeers.  Those two, three years were some of the happiest in my life.

Then I thought, maybe something later in time would be more appropriate, connect more with everyone.  The townhouse in Pasadena, the house in Tujunga, the games and parties, the memorial day weekends, over two decades of good times and good people.

So I was trying to find the right stories from over forty years of experiences with Jeff.  And I stopped.  Because the one thing that can trump forty years of experiences with someone would be the combined experiences of all the people in this room.  I decided I would rather share those memories of Jeff and hear some in return instead of standing up here and just dictating mine.  I hope we’ll all have an opportunity to swap stories of Jeff at the reception after the service.    

But that left me in a bit of a quandary.  If I wasn’t going to tell stories about Jeff, what could I do to describe who he was?  Should I talk about his career?  His accomplishments, of which there were many?  His hobbies and pastimes?  What came to me was that there was something that mattered more to him than any of those, and that was the group of friends sitting here today in front of me. 

So I came full circle back to where I started, the groups of friends Jeff created, people that became friends with one another as well as with Jeff.  I came back to the community of Jeff.  And what I see reflected in those people is not only a reflection of Jeff’s life, it’s his legacy.  There is no better testament to who Jeff was than the people that are here to remember him today.

I hope all of you feel as privileged as I do be a member of that group, of the community of Jeff. 

It’s been an honor.

Thank you.

Jeff and Terry Lyzen in the Craig house, 1988

Jeff's Legacy

My contribution to Jeff's last wishes was the distribution of his library of over 1000 games between 50 people.  I finally wrote a program that used a combination of probability-modified dice rolling (you had a better chance to roll well if you didn't ask for many games) and round-robin game selection that worked reasonably well, but between getting people's lists, writing the program, and fixing differences in spelling, it was in the vicinity of a week's worth of work.  It was entertaining how people approached it like a game, looking to maximize their picks.  A number of people mentioned that the meta-game seemed like something Jeff would have liked.

Below is the note that went out to the gamers.

The results of the game distribution are attached here.  A few notes:

Many people did not follow the instructions to use the exact spelling / capitalization in the spreadsheet.  I hand corrected those but in some cases it was a “best guess.”

Many people included games that were not on the list.  In those cases, I’ve added them and the person who asked for it “won” them.  However, I feel fairly certain that some of them are not actually available; for instance, expansion packs that were incorporated into the main game.  So, if you asked for something that wasn’t on the list, we will do a “best effort” to find it for you, but no promises.

A few people had “if no one else wants them” instructions.  In that case, they are not explicitly on the lottery, but if the games they want did not go to someone else, they will be distributed to the requestors (there are less than a half dozen games in that category). 

Please remember this isn’t about winning, getting the best games, or even getting free games.  It’s an attempt to provide everyone with something to remember Jeff by.  The algorithm I used is intended to fairly distribute the games in a way that maximizes each person’s chances to get at least some of their top picks.  As it stands, everyone who requested at least 6 games won 3 out of their top 6.   There were a number of high sought after games; only one person can win them and they, as a group, are distributed across a large number of people.    

If anyone wants a blow by blow of who won and/or lost what, let me know and I’ll send you the ticker tape of the run.

Wei Hwa Huang has made an incredibly generous offer to pay the shipping for the games instead of it coming out of the estate.  This is going to be thousands of dollars.  If you can pick up your games, please do.  If you can’t, MAKE SURE YOU SEND AN ADDRESS.  We won’t ship things without an explicit address, even if your home address is in Jeff’s address list. 

Games are in as-is condition.  It’s going to take a while to package them all up, so don’t expect to see them for a two to four weeks.  They will be shipped uninsured with no signature requirement unless you specifically request it.

And finally, please remember Jeff fondly when you play them.  I will.

Regards,

Dave