Thank you, Georg Holzer

While working on my feed backlog I stumbled upon this post by Robert Lender from yesterday titled “Danke, Georg Holzer” (“Thank you, Georg Holzer”). Since I knew Georg from back in the days, I was curious and then devastated when learning that he had died just a couple of days ago at the age of 48.

I knew Georg only very briefly at the end of the 2000s (somewhere around 2007 we must have met somehow) right while I was still a student at the University of Klagenfurt but closing in on my final exam + master thesis and eventually moving to Graz.

In 2007 he organized the very first Barcamp in Klagenfurt followed by similar events in the following years. He made all that look easy, juggling sponsors, location topics, catering, while always having the time for a quick chat, showing his enthusiasm for pretty everything related to technology back then.

He lived the community spirit, something that I’m still extremely fond of 15 years later. I don’t think I would be where I am today without community events like Barcamps but also the various PyCons and DjangoCons. Sure, the first are unconferences while the latter are conferences, but they are all community events for me with a clear focus on the people. Georg introduced me to all that and I’ll always be grateful to him for that!

Back when I knew him, he was also very interested in photography and together with Martin Gratzer and a lot of other people we went on semi-regular “photowalks” through Klagenfurt and also other places. I have so many photos from back then that I’m still extremely proud of. He was always curious, finding new and interesting perspectives while also helping others and letting others help him with new techniques or just goofing around with equipment. Those walks wouldn’t have been the same without him.

Thank you, Georg, for everything!