Thomas ‘Tom’ R. Morin, Jr. (1955-08-31 – 2007-02-20) was an extremely intelligent, well-liked and highly-respected member of The Robot Group. He was an avid reader. He served as the group’s Secretary for years and spearheaded the development of the 3D CNC project.
“He should have been awarded a reserved parking space in front of every Half Price Books store.”
Ed Gonzalez
Tom was instrumental in preserving The Robot Group history. He was loaded with all sorts of ideas about our activities. At the meeting before he passed, he was pumped up on the idea of planning and staging the next Robofest.
“He read even more than I do (and, probably, more – in total volume and in absolute breadth – than anyone that I have ever met). He was quick to laugh and as quick to offer any information that he had stored in his bottomless memory. What he had forgotten or had never known, he would look up and report back on.”
M.E.T. ‘Mike’ Scioli
Tom was very active in other circles as well and made friends in those, too. The Fandom Association of Central Texas (FACT), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF-Austin), and the Linux Users Group spring to mind.
Tom’s connections to the organizers of these groups made him the de facto liason between them and The Robot Group. Our appearances at FACT’s ArmadilloCon, at EFF-Austin’s Plutopia, and at Linucon on several occasions were the result of Tom and his ability to bring people of diverse interests together.
“I had the honor, at a recent Armadillocon, to sit in on a “Filking” (spelling) session and actually heard Tom sing! That surprised me to no end. He came to almost every Robot Group meeting, helped out at most events, and will be missed by everyone.”
Denise Scioli
Tom died, at the all-too-young age of 51, of a very sudden and massive heart failure while helping out with the family farm.
He is still missed by his friends and colleagues. We are the poorer for his passing.
[Image originally from http://wiki.therobotgroup.org/wiki/TomMorin]