Goodbye, Charles Edge

“A man is not dead while his name is still spoken.”

Terry Pratchett — Going Postal

As you have probably heard, Charles Edge, prolific writer of books and blog posts, regular conference presenter, and host of the MacAdmins Podcast died unexpectedly last week-end.

This came as a shock, to me and the entire community. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and all the people he worked with in the many endeavors he was a part of.

We crossed paths frequently at conferences and local user group meetings in Los Angeles, on the MacEnterprise mailing list and IRC, and later on Mac Admins Slack. Somehow, Charles was everywhere and did everything. He also continuously motivated and encouraged others to do their “thing” and cheered them along all the way.

He was generous with knowledge, help, and advice, but most of all, with attention. At conferences and meetings, he would often be in a group, not only talking, but also listening and sharing. He loved geeking out, a fact that was demonstrated weekly on the Mac Admins Podcast.

I got invited to the podcast a few times, and even though I always suspected he know far more about… well… anything, he let me talk about my perspective and experience, neither taking the spotlight, nor hiding his enthusiasm, but sharing. It was infectious.

His enthusiasm went so much further than Mac Admin related topics. In my last conversation with him, just a few weeks ago, we talked about managed Apple IDs, Swift, Dungeons and Dragons and 3D printing. A “normal” chat with Charles… It saddens me deeply it was the last.

Reading and hearing all the memories of him, that everybody is sharing online, it is quite stunning how many lives and careers he influenced for the better.

He left a dent. Charles’ name will be spoken for a long time.