It is with great sadness that I must report we lost a great community member today. Octavio Mendez, a long-time cornerstone of the Mexican Blender and open source community, has passed away after fighting the Corona virus.
Claudio Malefico Andaur contacted me about this, and shared the following:
I just wanted to let you know that our friend, fellow Blender artist and admin of G-Blender, Octavio Mendez, has passed away today, victim of the Corona virus.
He was a Blender promoter in Mexico, where he lived, and created a forum, a Blender community called Blender Guanajato, where he taught Blender to many people.
I think he and his wife Claudia Ascencio, were frequent posters in Blendernation these years, giving information to spanish speakers in Mexico and other countries.
A great loss for our Free Software community and the Blender community, of which he was a great activist.
Please, if you have any stories or images to share about him and his love for Blender, share them here.
My thoughts are with his wife Claudia and his family and friends. Claudia - if there's any way we can support you in this, please let me know.
Stay strong, friends, and stay safe.
30 Comments
It's really sad to know that one of our leading community member passed away.. I pray that his soul rest in peace and may God give his family the strength during this tough time...
A great loss ...
My condolences
Really sad news!.. My condolences to his family and his friends!..
Rest in peace my Blenderfriend.
Octavio visited Blender Conference in 2011, I met with him and Claudia in Blender Institute as well. She gave me a beautiful handmade Alebrije statue (a three headed fire breathing dragon), which has been on my table or desk until today. Octavio was also active in the education group. He then founded g-blender.org, which helped a lot of artists to get connected in Mexico and Latin America.
My sincere condolences to Claudia, his daughters, family and all his friends.
My beloved Ton, your condolences are welcome and treasure, we've always loved you, admired you.
You're an example as a person.
I embraced with pure love your beautiful message
I am sad to hear this, Rest in Peace.
My deepest condolences
Gracias por todo Octavio, te recordaremos siempre.
Sad! with tear
Tuve el privilegio de conocerlo y trabajar un par de veces con Octavio y Claudia, que triste levantarte y tener este tipo de noticias.
Buen viaje Octavio, a generar Nuevos renders y animaciones en el Mictlan.
Sad to hear, my condolences to his family and his many blender students.
Huge loss, for all the community.
Lets stay together thought these difficult times.
Kin Regards.
Realmente triste esta noticia. Un abrazo fuerte a toda la familia.
Mi más sincero pésame a toda la familia y amigos.
My condolences to his family and his friends
May his legacy live on through those whose lives he has touched.
Noticia que me puso triste... mis condolencias a sus familiares y una oración por él.
So sad. Condolences to tha family.
This is so sad.
COVID-19 is like a quiet war. It's unbelievable how quickly and how much it's affected the whole world. There's no world (interest-wise) where we can turn where it hasn't touched our lives with sadness.
My sincere condolences to Mr. Mendez's family, and my sympathy upon this world.
mis mas sentido pesame una mala noticia que descanse en paz un abrazo a la comunidad y a la familia de Arequipa Perú...
Really very sad
A big loss to blender community, I hope more people will be encouraged to fill the gap he left behind
So sad. May you rest in peace my friend. My sincere condolences to your friends and family. We should dedicate the next blender version in memory of Octavio Mendez. Maybe a special splash screen , to remember and never forget...
So SAD! Rest in Peace :(
Peace and thoughts to the family
Dear community of blender, I'm moved by your support, for how you demostrate me your love for Octa, my daughters and I really apreciate and treasure all the suport and the love you're giving us. I'll have you all deep in my heart.
My condolences, may he rest in peace and his family to stay safe in this tough times.
I've read this and it hit me real hard.
I met Octavio and Claudia only once, on 2010 at some conference in Mexico City and they were both unforgettable. So much energy and passion for pushing blender and the community forward.
I'm not really a part of the Blender community (just a Linux guy) and haven't really kept in touch, but I still remember him showing few permitted drawings from the soon-to-be-released Sintel and Claudia trying to explain to me (a die-hard command line...) how to do basic navigation in Blender UI.
My condolences to Claudia and family. In the (too) short live he made an impact to be remembered.