Farewell, Gerry!

(Photo Caption: Dr. Gerardo S. Trinidad)

I received an e-mail last night (July 5, 2007, Manila time) from my CSP colleague, Caslon (Dr. Calson Chua, Dean, College of Computer Studies, De La Salle University) informing me that Gerry (Dr. Gerardo Trinidad) passed away around 7:00 p.m. on July 5, 2007.

Gerry was a research scientist at CSIRO based in Melbourne, Australia. He was one of the founding members of the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) and a former CSP Board Member. He was also one of the associate editors of the Philippine Computing Journal (PCJ), the official publication of the CSP.

During the 7th Philippine Computing Science Congress (PCSC 2007) organized by the CSP and held at the Boracay Regency Resort and Convention Center on February 23-24, 2007, Gerry was one of our keynote speakers. I was surprised to see him limping and with crutches when he arrived in Boracay for the PCSC 2007. He told me that had a bad fall (or something like that). Poor Gerry, he went all the way from Melbourne, Australia to Boracay in a not-so-good physical condition.

And so, I was very surprised to learn from Caslon last night that Gerry already passed away.

I pray for Gerry and his loved ones. May Gerry's soul rest in peace.

Farewell, Gerry! We will surely miss you in CSP.

Raffy
(7/6/07, Manila Time)

Below is a brief info on Gerry found in the Bahay Kubo Research website:
(Source: http://www.bahaykuboresearch.net/profiles/trinidad.gerardo.php)
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Trinidad, Gerardo S.

Gerardo is currently a research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, Australia). He has a BSc degree (Civil Eng'g, 1984) from the University of the Philippines, Master and Doctorate degrees (Computer Science, 1987 & 1990) from the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand).

Prior to joining CSIRO in 1993, Gerardo has held academic positions in the Faculty of Information Technology, Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, 1991) and in the Department of Computer Science, James Cook University (Townsville, Queensland, 1992). He was also a faculty member of the College of Engineering, University of the Philippines (Diliman, 1985).

Gerardo's area of research includes spatial database systems and web-based database applications. He is one of the recipients of CSIRO Chairman's Medal for outstanding research (2000) and the British Aerospace Chairman's Award for innovation (2002).

Research topics:

Spatial database systems
Web-based database applications

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Note: Dr. Gerardo Trinidad's official website address is: http://www.csiro.au/people/Gerado.Trinidad.html