Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 08:47:18 -0500 (EST) From: Carey Noll To: IGSMail Subject: [IGSMAIL-3701]: Sad News: Mark Bryant Message-ID: Sender: owner-igsmail Precedence: bulk ****************************************************************************** IGS Electronic Mail 16 Jan 05:47:20 PST 2002 Message Number 3701 ****************************************************************************** Author: Tom Clark and Jeanne Sauber It is with a great deal of sadness that I tell you of the passing of a member of our community -- Mark Bryant. Mark died of a massive heart attack Monday morning. He was in his early 40's and it is a shock to have one so young struck down so unexpectedly. A decade ago, Mark was with us in the Crustal Dynamics and Space Geodesy Projects. He was a certified surveyor who tried to bring order out of the chaos of the NASA-maintained site catalogs. He contributed significantly to the development of low-cost geodetic markers. He practiced this art not only with the Site Catalog documentation, but also by installing the IGS site at the VLBA telescope on St Croix for Geoff Blewett and me, and then the Thule site for Bob Schutz. Mark left Goddard to take on a major customer support role with Trimble, and then subsequently moved on to a similar position with Ashtech. During his Ashtech days, Mark and his Ashtech cohort Bob Lemoine had great kicks out of donating holiday time and frequent flyer miles to volunteer to work on the Alaskan GPS program developed by Jeanne Sauber, Steph Stockman and me. Mark loved having an excuse for a helicopter ride to set up and man a GPS receiver in the Bagley icefield and at Cape Yakataga. Since a part of our program involved an involvement with High School students, Mark and Bob acted as mentors in Cordova and Kodiak, teaching the students to be young surveyors. Most recently, Mark and Bob used their personal vacation time to help establish our KODK IGS site jointly operated by GSFC, Kodiak High School and Scripps. If any of you are in the DC area, services will be Friday starting at 11 AM at the funeral home at 5308 Backlick Road Springfield VA 22151 phone:703-549-0074 Mark was a great guy. He was always helpful in solving problems. He didn't know how to say no. He always had a smile on his face. He was great company in the field (especially in the bar at nite). He was our friend and we will mis him. Tom Clark Jeanne Sauber