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To friends, family, and colleagues of Hans
Kraaijenbrink,
We have suffered a great loss with Hans' death. We
celebrate his life and mourn his death together.
I only had the privilege of knowing Hans for a
short while, just since we became ICANN Directors in the Fall of 1998. Over that
time we became good friends, joined by our common commitment to trying to
achieve the goals set for ICANN. We would usually sit next to one another
at the Board meetings....it became a tradition...and we sometimes shared a
dinner or trip to a museum if there were any spare time at the ICANN meetings.
And, of course, we frequently shared our thoughts and concenrs over email and in
teleconferences.
I came to know what a wise, intelligent, principled
man Hans was.
He thought deeply, carefully, and creatively about
the challenges ICANN was charged to address. He faithfully and tirelessly
listened to the diverse constituencies' views and sought fair, effective, and
scalable solutions to bridge the many competing claims. He accepted some of the
hardest and thankless tasks in his work at ICANN, and he did them
well.
His contributiones as an ICANN Board member were
prodigious. He worked generously, selflessly, productively, and with great
integrity. And he did so with good humor, good comraderie, and without
complaint.
Hans' friendship meant a great deal to me. I will
miss him very much. How much greater is his loss to his dearest friends and
family.
I deeply regret that I cannot travel to the
Netherland to celebrate his life and mourn his death with his friends, family,
and colleagues on November 11. Please know that my thoughts will be with you. I
know that your coming together on this day will bring some comfort and help us
know this fine man even better through the words shared there and by the
presence of so many who admired, respected, and loved him.
Linda S. Wilson
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