Hello

Here is some sad news, communicated to the members of UK TUG by Joseph Wright.
BEGIN
I am sad to say that Robin Fairbairns, former UK-TUG Chair and long-standing CTAN node maintainer, died late last month. Robin was well-known to many of us, either in his CTAN role, as author and editors
of the UK TeX FAQ or as a constant presence on comp.text.tex. Robin was also a member of the LaTeX Project, and author of several important LaTeX packages. His funeral will take place on the 30th March at Cambridge Crematorium:

https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/fairbairns/5024136
END

On hearing this I shared with the members of UK TUG this message.
BEGIN
I'm saddened to hear that Robin Fairbairns has died. I knew that for some time he had health problems. His family, friends and colleagues have my condolences.

About 30 years ago I learnt of his role in the TeX community, and was delighted that he and I lived close to each other in Cambridge. I learnt a lot from him, particularly working together in person on the TeX FAQ, which had recently become the responsibility of the UK TeX Users Group.

In 1994 Chris Rowley, as chair of UK TUG, reported
==The notable innovation in 1994 has been the regular appearance of Baskerville. Under the editorship of Sebastian Rahtz, and with Robin Fairbairns and Jonathan Fine as publisher and distributor, issues of our newsletter now reach members approximately every two months.

It contains an interesting variety of TeX-related articles in addition to notices of meetings and subscription forms. In my opinion, Baskerville is the best in content and, by a wide margin, in timeliness of all the journals and newsletters produced by TeX user groups.

Thanks to Sebastian, Robin and Jonathan, and also to all those who have written items for Baskerville.
=http://uk.tug.org/wp-installed-content/uploads/2008/12/51.pdf (p35)

With the tragic early death of Sebastian in 2016, and Robin this year, of the four persons named in that news story only myself and Chris Rowley are still alive.
END

https://tug.org/pipermail/uktug-announce/2022q1/000611.html # Joseph's message
https://tug.org/pipermail/uktug-announce/2022q1/000612.html # Jonathan's message

with a mixture of sadness, regrets and gratitude

Jonathan

Jonathan Fine <jfine2358@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello
>
> Here is some sad news, communicated to the members of UK TUG by Joseph Wright.
> BEGIN
> I am sad to say that Robin Fairbairns, former UK-TUG Chair and
> long-standing CTAN node maintainer, died late last month. Robin was
> well-known to many of us, either in his CTAN role, as author and
> editors
> of the UK TeX FAQ or as a constant presence on comp.text.tex. Robin
> was also a member of the LaTeX Project, and author of several
> important LaTeX packages. His funeral will take place on the 30th
> March at Cambridge Crematorium:
....

Very sorry to hear this. I remember his nearly constant presence on
this NG for many, many years. He was clearly meticulous, a hard worker,
and an all-around good person. Never met him, but I'm one of many who
will miss him. Wishing all the best to his family.

On 22/03/2022 16:54, Jonathan Fine wrote:
> Hello
>
> Here is some sad news, communicated to the members of UK TUG by Joseph Wright.
> BEGIN
> I am sad to say that Robin Fairbairns, former UK-TUG Chair and long-standing CTAN node maintainer, died late last month. Robin was well-known to many of us, either in his CTAN role, as author and editors
> of the UK TeX FAQ or as a constant presence on comp.text.tex. Robin was also a member of the LaTeX Project, and author of several important LaTeX packages. His funeral will take place on the 30th March at Cambridge Crematorium:
>
> https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/fairbairns/5024136
> END

For many years Robin was a stalwart of the LaTeX community. I always
learnt from, and enjoyed, my interactions with him. Recently though he
had become more reticent. My commiserations to Robin's family, friends,
and colleagues.

Peter W.

On Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 12:07:38 AM UTC+5:30, Retrograde wrote:
> Jonathan Fine <jfin...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Hello
> >
> > Here is some sad news, communicated to the members of UK TUG by Joseph Wright.
> > BEGIN
> > I am sad to say that Robin Fairbairns, former UK-TUG Chair and
> > long-standing CTAN node maintainer, died late last month. Robin was
> > well-known to many of us, either in his CTAN role, as author and
> > editors
> > of the UK TeX FAQ or as a constant presence on comp.text.tex. Robin
> > was also a member of the LaTeX Project, and author of several
> > important LaTeX packages. His funeral will take place on the 30th
> > March at Cambridge Crematorium:
> ...
>
>
> Very sorry to hear this. I remember his nearly constant presence on
> this NG for many, many years. He was clearly meticulous, a hard worker,
> and an all-around good person. Never met him, but I'm one of many who
> will miss him. Wishing all the best to his family.

In late 1999, I got some nice scold from him regarding one of my silly question after that he helped me a lot and I learnt a lot and lot from him... Really it's a personal loss for me as well as our community....