Never did I think that I would be writing these lines, and even less so at this early time. Dirk Bartz, our long time friend and colleague is no longer with us, passing away at one of the activities he enjoyed most: running marathons. I’ve heard it so many times: “the best go first” but never put too much attention to it. But now I can firmly say: it is 100% true. Dirk, you were most definitely one of the very best – both as a researcher and scientist, and as a friend and community member. Your loss is even more painful since our community is so young – very rarely would a member be taken away from us for these terrible reasons. Some disappear because of a change of careers, and one would meet them every once in a while at other occasions, or self-initiate a contact. But almost never would they be pulled from our midst terminally with no chance to ever get back in touch.
I still remember when I first met Dirk at Siggraph 1996 in New Orleans, introduced by my then-PhD advisor Roni Yagel. We ‘clicked’ from the start, but who would not ‘click’ with him. He was such a good-spirited guy – one could pretty much talk with him about everything. He had a great sense of humor and yet was so full of research ideas, so creative, and so productive. Back in New Orleans, we ended up ‘tasting’ some of the French Quarter establishments, along with Roni. It was an interesting evening, and we actually managed to talk (although only briefly) about medical visualization during a live performance.
Little did I know back then that he would be the person co-authoring the book I would be using as a text in my graduate visualization course 10 years later – none of these parts did I know or even suspect back then. He grew into an exquisite driver for medical visualization research. He will live forever through this textbook, and also the many milestone papers he co-authored, the numerous tutorials he taught at the Visualization conference and elsewhere, the many PhD students he has minted, and the conferences he chaired or helped bring to life. Very notable in this respect are the Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM) which he co-founded, and the Conference for Robot-Assisted Surgery (CURAC) 2008 and EG Parallel Graphics (2002, 2004) where he served as a program chair.
Dirk was also the long-time publicity chair of the visualization conference and related activities, since 2000, which entailed the careful managing of email lists and striking the delicate balance between information dissemination and spam. When I was chair of Visweek in 2009, he impressed me by never missing an important date when to send community email, always diligently updating the information or asking for updates. He was so very much overqualified for this job, being a professor for computer-assisted surgery at the University of Leipzig and leading an active research group on visual computing, but he did this important service for the community every year and throughout the year without much ado.
I am still shattered from the fateful event last Monday morning when I received the brief email from a mutual friend in Leipzig stating that Dirk had died running a half-marathon with the finish line in sight on the Sunday before, March 28, 2010. Completely perplexed, I was en route in my car at the time and for the next hour all I could do was drive, with memories of our many shared experiences passing me by like the trees lining Long Island’s Northern State Parkway. When arriving at my office I could just sit for a while and then send an email to the one community email list I knew, VisWeek 2010.
I thought about what we as a community could do to console Dirk’s family – his wife Heidi and his two young sons, Robert and Erik. He was such a dedicated husband and father – whenever he was on travel he skyped with them every day, and just for that he will serve as an example for us all. Of course, there is nothing in the world that can console a loss like this, but it may be of help to his family to know that many are mourning along with them. The Facebook page Dirk-Bartz-In-Memoriam, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dirk-Bartz-In-Memoriam/107084542655761 created for this purpose now has over 100 subscribers from countries all over the world. It is a vivid testimony for how many lives Dirk has touched and how fondly he will be remembered.
While starting this Facebook site and sending these initial emails, I could not help myself thinking that all I was basing these efforts on was a single 3-line email, although from a friend I absolutely trust. Deep inside, on that Tuesday, I hoped and was almost sure of it, that sooner or later I would receive an email or phone call from Dirk where he would say: “What are you doing? I’m not dead … but nice try!” Then he would crack a smile and after spending some time talking about the origins of this ‘incidence’ he would go on with a conversation about other things, possibly research. This is exactly how he was and how he will always be remembered: easy-going, fun, forgiving, and blessed with a keen percept for the good, important, and interesting things in life.
Dirk, you will be sorely missed and the world is much poorer without you. Our hearts go out to your young family!
Klaus Mueller, April 6, 2010
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