29 October 2003 | So long Plastically...Rich Baran R.I.P.

I received some tragic news this morning - our friend Rich Baran (A.K.A Plastically), was killed in a car crash yesterday morning in his home town of Philadelphia.

Rich Baran was an amazingly talented multimedia designer and game developer, a big contributor to many online communities, and always had time to help out others. His games live on at his website and you can see what I believe was his magnum opus, an online “community sketchpad” here. The image above was created by his friends using the sketchpad as the news began to filter through to us this morning.

To Lauren, Rich’s folks and his friends both online and off: I’m truly sorry for your loss.

I’ve known Rich from various forums over the years and we’ve butted heads on more than one occasion, but the things we had in common far outweighed the things that set us apart. For every one time we disagreed we had five positive conversations about sport, multimedia, game design or mother earth, and we always spoke to each other with respect…which is all you can ask for in this world I guess.

I’m hugely grateful for the fact that I’d spoken to him a lot more this last six months than ever before...I’m still reeling from the fact that we won’t be speaking anymore.

Guess we’ll have to wait until I get where you are before we have that boxing match now Rich. Book a slot at the big ring in the sky for us mate.