A belated farewell to an old friend, Mert Nickerson

I worked with Mert in the late 1970s and early 1980s at the Univ. of Maine at Orono, shortly before he moved to the Univ. of Southern Maine.

I just learned that he passed away nearly three years ago, in January 2006. That’s what happens when you lose touch with people….

Mert was the smartest, most thorough, most patient, data center manager (and canoe racer) I ever met. Much that I learned about “real world” computing I learned from Mert.

Here’s a note from the USM campus president’s newsletter:

We all deeply regret the loss of our beloved colleague and friend Mert Nickerson, director of USM IT networking and sales, who passed away on January 12. For nearly 40 years — 20 years at USM, and earlier with UNET’s predecessor CAPS —Mert’s hard work, leadership and talent has helped us transform our technology to better serve our students, faculty and staff. His passing is a great loss to our community, personally and professionally, and he will be missed greatly.

Goodbye, Mert, and thank you.