Acolyte52

At 7:10 this morning my older brother Diederik (aka HappyNY) passed away peacefully in his sleep, aged 51. In his younger and fitter days he excelled at every sport and game; he was a professional sportsman and true amateur of bridge in particular, which he played throughout his life. He was introduced to the game by our grandfather, who passed away when my brother was 18 and I was 9; a fourth was soon needed and so it came that I was introduced to the game. Diederik was not academically inclined, but he could communicate in almost any (European) language and would play his partner's system whatever it was. He was also a truly gentle soul who made friends with everybody he played with, and over the last three-and-a-half years made many friends on BBO who I am certain will miss him dearly. I actually created the account, HappyNY, myself, having forgotten the password to my home account (DylanJ at the time, and can't change the password in the old client since it won't run), "created 2007-12-31" - it seems so much longer! - on the computer hitherto mostly used for e-mail and sports results, and the login count is now at 5000+, so that means at least 4 times per day on average. He wouldn't always play; if he wasn't feeling well he'd often just kibbitz whilst listening to music and/or chatting to friends. Anyway, he will be cremated next Wednesday and I will make an effort to get in touch with as many of his bridge partners as I can after that, and play some hands with those who wish to too. I'll be linking them to this thread and asking them to post some of their memories, and I trust that here of all online forums there will be respect for my wish to keep things respectful, so that I can direct our parents, both of whom survive him, to this thread eventually. At my first bridge club (mid-90's) it was quite common for a death to be announced, but rare for the person concerned to be much under 90. Although my brother has passed before his assigned three score and ten, at least he made a great half century, and he'd be the first to laugh at being one card short of a full deck. He listened mostly to 70's pop music, but also classical. Suggested listening: Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond♦", Mozart's "Requiem". ♥♥♥ Roderick Dylan John