Breck Carter's Passing

[former_SQLA_member1694871]

I've dug through the SQL Anywhere group and found nothing posted, so I apologize if this was discussed already. I just recently found out myself that Breck Carter passed away on July 28th, 2022.

I have no idea what happened, just was totally shocked myself. Breck and I had worked together on a contract back in mid 2020.

Wasn't sure if anyone knew any details, or what might be happening with Foxhound. It was actually the company that him and I worked for that reached out to me to see if anyone took ownership of it.

https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/thestar/name/richard-carter-obituary?id=39965764

Either way, I was just heartbroken when I heard about this. He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

[MarkCulp]

Wow! I had not heard this sad news. Thank you for posting. He will be greatly missed.

[VolkerBarth]

That's very sad to hear - and a huge loss for this community. He certainly was the core of us folks around here.

I had noticed that he had not posted anything in the last months (very untypically for him) and had thought about reaching out to him to get to know if he's all well... – and now I can see that he was active here still a few days before his sudden passing.

While I never met Breck in real life, we had some communication over the decades, and I can only show deepest respect for him, his ongoing helpfulness, his great explanations, his clear and friendly words, and of course for his great sense of humour.

Hope to see you again, dear Breck.

[RADical_Systems]

It was very sad to hear the news. I have worked with Breck for a number of our clients in the past using Foxhound to identify issues.

He was always super helpful and available, if reluctant to be paid to identify to do the work identifying the issue for me - I suspect these were teaching moments 😉

He will definitely be missed.

[former_SQLA_member1694892]

Oh my I did NOT know about this. This is a huge loss, indeed. He helped me through several 'stuck' points. We also had good forum conversations on techniques. I have his book and have used in many times. I also had the chance to meet him in a class in Florida, back in the good old SQL Anywhere conference days. Sympathies to his family and all those that knew him.

[Vlad]

My condolences to his friends and family. I remember his memes, that he liked to post here, and few our threads, where we discussed something about technologies. Never knew him personally.

[RonEmmert]

He will indeed be missed. I grieve with the family and friends. There were so many questions I did not need to ask on this forum because he had already addressed them in a different thread. I met him once, oh 20 years ago maybe when our company was much more focused on SA for our core product and found him just as quality in person as he was on this forum.

[JimDiaz]

Breck was the best always willing to lend a hand. This is very sad indeed.

[awitter]

That man will be missed considerably. His intuitive view on problems and his solutions were admirable! I loved the communications I had with him!

[justin_willey]

It was very sad to hear of Breck's passing. He has been wonderful support and inspiration to me and several of my colleagues over the years. I was lucky enough to meet him a few times, and he was always great fun. I remember several long trans-Atlantic telephone calls, that started as work and gradually turned in to "putting the world to rights" sessions. Sadly his health issues prevented a planned extended tour of Scotch whisky distilleries, heavily disguised as a work trip, ever taking place.

Breck was always a great advocate of SQL Anywhere, and what he called its approach of "doing it the right way". I still find myself referring to his 2004 SQLA Developers Guide, and we use Foxhound extensively and will miss his expertise hugely.

[VolkerBarth]

FWIW, the mentioned SQL Anywhere Studio 9 Developer's Guide is available via his blog.

I still feel somewhat "lost". But in the spirit of Breck's great attitude of sharing and teaching knowledge, I guess we could provide some more links to his all his online gems...

[Baron]

Sorry to hear this!

Condolences to his family, colleagues and friends

[former_SQLA_member1694879]

I too would like to add condolences to family and friends. Breck was a unique free thinker. He will be missed!

[huber1]

Very sad to hear about Breck's passing – my condolences to the family. I have never met Breck but very much like to read his publications, which gave me many insights into SQL Anywhere and was a big help.

[former_SQLA_member1694927]

A couple of months ago I was looking for an SA answer, and when I couldn't find it, I emailed him directly. His wife was kind enough to respond and tell me about his passing. Like others have said, he was a great guy and terrific resource.

We were on Team Sybase together (who remembers?) and we'd meet in person once or twice a year. He was simultaneously kind and garrulous. He would call BS when he saw it. I liked him a lot.

Leo T.

[former_SQLA_member1694930]

Deepest condolences for the family and friends... Breck helped me with a right solution to my issue. The solution was very straight forward and solved all the issue.. Will miss him much...