Cheryl,
My thoughts and prayers are with you. I only heard of your husband’s passing when I returned to school. My husband passed away unexpectedly on June 26th as a result of injuries from a car accident and my family is also navigating these uncharted waters, where waves of grief come fast and furious. Know that you are in my thoughts and in time we may find ways to support each other.

Erik was one of a kind that I consider one of my best friends. We met many times at the CMU spring meetings and fall retreats (see the picture). And my last memory of him is from a week before he died we decided to meet for lunch next month. Erik was a smart and kind friend and I will miss him immensely. May his memory be blessed and his legacy will live with his kids and wife forever.

My sincere condolences to Erik’s family and prayers for all who knew him. Erik made the world a better place, and he will be deeply missed.

Descansa en paz Erick, donde quiera que estes, espero siempre ayudes a los que te rodean.

Luis!

I'm so sorry to hear of Erik's passing. I first met Erik in what seems like many lifetimes ago when he was at Seagate and completing his PhD at CMU. We worked together as industry colleagues many times over the years through each of our professional evolutions. I last ran into Erik while I was attending a conference in New York City this past March.

I consider Erik a friend and thoroughly enjoyed working with and just hanging out. He enjoyed talking about his family and we would share kid stories. I recall coming up behind Erik on an escalator at an Intel event in 2006 associated with the Fiesta Bowl. I was with my wife (whose name is Erika...) and when Erik turned around after I said "hi", he smiled, laughed and said something like "...oh God, it's great to see a friendly face and someone I know. I didn't think I'd know anyone here...". 

My prayers are with you and his family.

Like so many, I met Eric through the tech community. In fact, Erik was one of the first people to take a chance on me when I launched my consultancy. Even though he had hired me for consulting, I felt as though I learned so much from him throughout that engagement. He was always so kind and generous and ready to share knowledge and experience to help me fine tune the work I was doing for him. He was always incredibly optimistic and kind, and his commitment to diversity and inclusion in tech, even when no one was looking, was extremely rare and commendable . I’m so sad to hear this news. Sending my most heartfelt condolences to his family.

I first met Erik several years ago when I was traveling for work over the new year's holiday. I got to meet his whole family and we played games. It was wonderful. We kept in touch over the years and he was always just the most amazing human being.

He will be very missed and his family will be in my thoughts. I wish them healing and hope.

Tardigrade. 💔

Though our paths crossed only briefly during our time at CMU, I loved the way that Erik brought passion to his work, and joy to the people he was working with.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Erik was a mentor to me when I first joined the Cloud Infrastructure Group at EMC. As the startup operating inside a big, old company, few products were built in-house, so Erik and others faced tremendous headwinds.  That didn’t stop him. He had an infectious energy and blue-sky thinking about better, more sustainable ways to solve problems that others might see as nerdy or mundane, but he saw the charter to preserve data. Memories, pictures, crime scene evidence, medical records, they’re all precious to someone and while others might cut corners, his mantra was being good “stewards of the data”. 

He pushed me outside my comfort zone to join industry groups like SNIA and we had fun but still productive times planning conferences, editing slides on the fly, and generally sharing knowledge for the betterment of others. 

I see his “Sharpening our Pencil” keynote from SNIA SDC ‘23 is still up. I’ve watched it several times now, not just because it’s like a highlight reel of his passions for sustainable tech, but because it starts with a hot mic moment where he’s laughing. It’s very brief, but THAT is magic. When his voice jumps an octave to talk about ‘the helium guys’ is another highlight of how he made others work noteworthy where the default mode in tech is a ‘not invented here’ mindset that devalues the work of others. 

His passion for cloud (storage) also intersected with photography passion for clouds (of water) showing his flair for not just small things like 1s and 0s, but big things like the climate. 

I saw this quote in a book from Marc Nepo that has daily reminders to deal with loss, grief and finding grace. On the page 225, Nepo shares a quote from Budda: 

“Like the Moon, come out from behind the clouds! And Shine!”

For marking so many lives with bright, shining moments, may you be at peace and live among the clouds.

I was very fortunate to work with Erik at EMC and I ran into him about a year ago when we reminisced about when we worked on EMC Atmos.

In my career, there have only been a handful of engineers who have stood out in terms of getting things done and focusing on what is important to build a product. Erik is one of those engineers and am so sad he is gone. 

I remember when Erik was helping us recover customer data from hard drives, and I was bringing up some related work that needed to be done. Erik said, "That's just paperwork, let's focus on the work needed to help the customer first, then we can do the paperwork".

This is something that I take with me to this day.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Erik’s family.

A very sad news. I will deeply miss you, Erik. You gave me precious opportunity and time at EMC and helped to change and shape my career path. You were a great leader. Thank you.

Erik was a source of inspiration and a true leader who always motivated us with his vision and dedication. Working with him wasn't just a job; it was a pleasure that enriched my life in many ways. You'll be greatly missed.

I can't believe Erik passed! My heart goes out to his family, especially his wife and kids, and his friends. I just wanted to share this picture as it shows Erik's BIG personality perfectly.  We were two geeks who loved to dig into compute hardware and keep expanding the underpinnings of the internet.  The Open Compute Foundation, ITRenew, Sesame, Iron Mountain, and many more. He always came ready to debate AND collaborate. He was smart as a whip and eternally curious.  I really appreciated that about Erik. He will be missed.

As an ex-colleague but no chance for f2f chat, I knew Erik is a great person for a long time.  Though our paths did not cross in person, your legacy of excellence and warmth will be fondly remembered. 

Rest in peace.

Thanks for been part of the ITR family Erik!  It was an honor working with yah!

Dear Erik's Family,

I was deeply saddened to hear about Erik's sudden passing. I was privileged to work with Erik and remember his passion and can still remember a number of great conversations from many years ago.

I knew Erik from my days at EMC Atmos. Erik and I had many long conversations about our hardware platform and as many have said, such positive energy. We continued to cross paths occasionally over the years at various tech conferences. It was always great to catch up.  He will be missed.

Please accept my heartfelt condolences, my thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

With sympathy,

Ed

Erik is a great mentor, colleague, and friend. I still remember Erik generously mentoring me after he joined the EMC Atmos group when I was working from China. He called me every other week during his commute and that mentoring experience changed my career path and life. He's such a great role model in inspiration, learning, and giving back to others. We later met on a few other occasions including CMU PDL. It's always enjoyable to hear Erik's laugh! 

Sorry for the great loss to Erik's family and the industry. My sincere condolences to the family. Erik, you will be greatly missed, your legacy of kindness and mentorship will continue to inspire us all.

I am shocked to hear this news. I have known Erik from my EMC days when he was working on ATMOS and I was in the Symmetrix engineering group. He was such a great mentor, friendly, always willing to help and going an extra mile. My heart goes out to the family who are devastated by his untimely departure to join our good lord. My thoughts and prayers with everyone.

My first memory of Erik was from when he was helping Greg Ganger teach his storage systems class in 2003. Since then, I felt fortunate whenever our paths crossed including deep discussions at the PDL retreat, working in related groups at (now Dell) EMC, crossing paths at conferences, exploring the startup ecosystem, and, most recently, randomly running into each other at a coffee shop in the Bay Area. Erik was always a pleasure to talk to and I walked away from each conversation not just having learned something new but also in awe of Erik's passion, creativity, and care. 

I cannot believe he is no longer with us and words cannot convey how much he will be missed! I know that I, like many others, will be thinking of him every time we look up at the clouds to reflect. 💔

Cheryl, Emma, Jonah,  Elena, and Ani.   
My heart aches for you all.  I truly wish there was something I could say or do that could undo this tragic loss.   Cheryl, you and Erik have always welcomed me into your home and your family - something I deeply treasure.  I wish I could be there to hug you in person.   I hope to see you all soon.  We can sort recycling, look at clouds, and dance to the best disco tunes to be found and reminisce.

So shcoked to hear about his new! Our team meet Erik this Mar. for a product testing, we are very impressive and thankful to his professionalism and support during debugging. We would like to express our sincere condolences and our thought will be with you during this time.

Shocked to hear this news and so sorry for your loss! I remember the long passionate discussions we have had on hardware for the ECS product lines as well as the great sense of humor he approached tough situations with. He will be missed! My heartfelt condolences.

I met Erik at EMC and  he”s someone I quickly came to respect and trust, I’m grateful to have made the acquaintance and  stayed in touch. Sincere condolences to Erik’s family & loved ones.

My deep condolences to all of you. I worked for Erik when was SVP of Engineering at Sesame. I worked with him every day. He was a wonderful human being, who would never let me get away with a comment that he felt was immoral or wrong headed. We'd have some great debates from time to time (that he usually won.. dammit) 

His mind was always racing all over the place and getting his attention at times took a lot of patience. :D I would recall fondly, how I would have to do an "Erik!" to get his attention, I was never sure if he saw an email or was going to attend a meeting - haha. 

He always entertained me with all these stories of the things he saw, his bits of his family life, and what not.

I was heartbroken when we had to dissolve Sesame, it is still the best job I have ever had. I had always garnered hope that we would one day reform again. 

I shed a few tears when I heard the news. I mourn him, and will not forget him. The open source conferences won't be the same. 

To his family, I can't imagine how devastating this has been for all of you. He is irreplaceable. I hope that you all well heal and continue to share your favorite dad stories or husband stories when you all get together for years to come. 

Good bye, my friend. 🥹

I'm really sad to hear this. I looked up to Erik while I was at CMU. I'm so sorry for Cheryl and his family.

Erik was brilliant and unrelenting in his contributions to the world of open source and technology.  A huge champion of diversity and inclusion, he fought hard to make room for others with less privilege than him.  And when I visited Boston a few years ago, Erik took time to take me to his favorite museum and bring his wonderful kids with him.  I will miss seeing him at open source events and collaborating with him on talks and programs.  Many of us will miss him dearly and send our thoughts and prayers to his family.

I don't even remember how Erik and I first got acquainted. What I do remember are our conversations over the years, the smiles and laughs we had when we connected at conferences, and his willingness to always lend a hand and help a friend and colleague.

His loss has left a huge hole in our industry, as I'm sure it has with his family. Hugs and sending strength to you Cheryl, the kids, and your family during this time of loss.

Our lives were so enriched by Erik’s presence when working with him, the room would light up and everyone would be in a better mood for the rest of the day. We will miss him dearly.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I had the pleasure to work closely with Erik at EMC  Corporation and the Storage Networking Industry Association. He always smiled and had a knack for explaining the most complex technical tasks in a simple, understandable way. 

May Erik's memory be eternal.

From the time at Atmos to the ECS product era, we were colleagues and friends. Although we didn't have many opportunities to work directly together for a long time, I always remembered Erik's humorous conversation style. When we had the chance to collaborate again, I was even more impressed by his professional skills and his passion for life, He always spoke with great pride about his four lovely daughters.
When I heard this sad news from former colleagues, I was shocked and speechless. I hope his family finds peace and comfort during this difficult time.
A Friend of Erik in China

I will never find the words to express how sad this news makes me so instead I will share a picture from 2010 with this beautiful and extraordinary family wearing shirts given to Erik as the recipient of our PDL Distinguished Alum. The fact that we gave Erik a "family" gift instead of an individual gift was because he for sure loved his family far greater than he loved himself. His obituary (and I find it nearly impossible that I am even typing those words) so beautifully and accurately captured the essence of Erik. I think of a statement made by a young man on the 10th anniversary of having lost both parents . . . "The pain of losing them will never catch up to the joy of having them.” The world became a bit more dim on June 30. Praying God will give you all the peace that passes all understanding some how, some way, some day.

Erik’s friends at ITRenew/Iron Mountain in Olathe will certainly miss the caring, friendly, brilliant person who helped, energized and challenged us.  Our thoughts and prayers are with your family.

OBITUARY

Erik Riedel

July 27, 1971 – June 30, 2024

Richardson-Gaffey Funeral Home

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