Celebrating Alan Li

Photos and Tributes:

Sara Curran
CSDE Director

Alan was a wonderful member of the CSDE community. I share this picture of Alan from a recent gathering of CSDE staff and faculty. Alan always joined in our events with a holiday hat, halloween mask, or in the art projects and games. He always had a good chuckle and really enjoyed the fun competition. When I first met Alan, I didn’t recognize his fun nature. Instead, my first impression was of someone who took his work really seriously and was not to be bothered with silly questions about computing. I was just slightly intimidated… but, I was so wrong in that first impression. Instead, what I learned is that Alan cared deeply about fully understanding the nature of the problem you brought to him and then to provide you with a solution that worked completely. His sincerity and generosity of his time to me and each member of our community was unparalleled. I miss his daily presence and I miss bothering him about taking time off and using his many, many hours and days of accumulated vacation!

Joanna Medina
Former CSDE Staff

I worked with Alan for almost seven years, and he was always incredibly patient whenever I had computing questions. I also bumped into him at the light rail a few times and we would exchange a few quick words while he was on his way to work, and he always seemed just like himself. Every time I visited CSDE, I tried to stop by his office because I knew he was usually around.

Alan will truly be missed. His kindness, dedication, and quiet humor left a lasting impression on so many of us. I’m grateful for the years I had the chance to work with him.

Sending my deepest condolences to Alan’s family. I am so sorry for your loss. Rest in peace, Alan.

Steven Goodreau
Professor, Dept. of Anthropology

My main impression of Alan has always been how quietly thoughful he was. No matter what problem I came to him with, he would listen, pause, say something to himself, smile a little, and then magically fix the problem. I had the sense that it brought him great satsifaction to be the remover of obstacles for his fellow humans like this. The other impression came the few times that I saw him with his son, and just how full of joy and pride he was around him. My deepest gratitude to Alan. And my deepest condolensces to all of Alan’s family, especially his son Albert.

Kate Barch Heaton
LCS/Haitian Project

I am sad to hear of Alan’s passing and will keep his loved ones in my thoughts. I overlapped briefly with Alan when we both served as volunteers in Haiti. Alan was kind, funny, quick-witted and good with the kids at the school. I thought then, and especially looking back now, that he was brave in many ways. He entered a community where he did not blend in and handled it with courage and humor. That is very hard to do. I also enjoyed hearing his stories, learning from him and joking around in passing. To his son all of you who have known and loved Alan in more recent years, I am sorry for your loss.

Phi Hurvitz
Former UW/CSDE staff

I had the privilege of working at CSDE one door away from Alan for about four years.

Alan’s level of skill at system administration was at a level I have rarely seen over my 3+ decades in scientific computing. Alan had the ability to think through computing problems or proposed system changes as thought experiments, following them through from beginning to best case and worst case scenario outcomes. He carefully thought through every proposal, with particular attention to negative unintended consequences. While people wanting computing support usually just want to get something done, they often do not think about potential down sides. Alan’s ability to see the big picture as well as minute details led to many better decisions and avoidance of probably even more bad decisions.

My first interaction with Alan was when he was supporting the UW Data Collaborative, before I joined CSDE staff. There were some data sets in the Enclave that were too large to handle effectively as flat files. I suggested the use of PostgreSQL for storage and analysis, and within a week, Alan responded that he had set up a system that was ready to use. That’s just one example of Alan’s dedication and unusually rapid support of his clientele.

A few months ago I was driving into the Asian Family Food Center at 135th & Aurora. Alan was just coming out of the store with his son. We made eye contact, smiled, and waved at each other. That’s my last memory of seeing Alan–smiling and waving at me.

Alan liked doughnuts.

Emily Lust
Former CSDE Help Desk employee

I worked with Alan for three years in CSDE as the help desk’s Computer Support Technician. He was always kind and patient whenever I came to him with questions or for advice, whether it was something technical or simply trying to better understand one of our customers. Alan demonstrated an incredible work ethic, and he was genuinely easy to work alongside, or to just chat with about what we each did over the weekend. I’m shocked and deeply saddened by the news of his passing. My heartfelt condolences go out to everyone at CSDE, to his friends, and of course to his family.

Erin Carll
UW Center for Evaluation & Research (CERSE)

 I am so sorry to hear about this devastating loss. Though I probably only spoke to Alan in person a couple times, we communicated via email on many occasions over the years – usually to discuss something related to the CSDE terminal servers. I always felt very well taken care of by Alan and very much appreciated his kindness. I hope Alan passed at peace and I am sending my condolences to all who knew and loved him.

June Yang
CSDE Research Scientist

Alan was always my go-to person for any CSDE computing questions. He responded quickly, took action right away, and helped my team resolve issues in no time. He was a genuinely trusted colleague and friend. I truly cherish the conversations we had, as well as the thoughtful baby gift he prepared for my family. He will be deeply missed.

Carlos Becerra
Colleague at CSDE’s Northwest Federal Statistical Research Data Center

Every weekday between 7:00am and 7:30am I walk to the light rail station in Northgate in my commute to work. The last few years, I would often walk behind two guys who would leave the apartment complex in front of my house and engage in what seemed like interesting conversations from what I was able to to eavesdrop. Their backs to me, I could only see their large backpacks, hats, and clothing that fit a little too big, while not being baggy. I always imagined that they were on their way to school, either at UW or North Seattle College, and having nothing better to think about in the 12 minute walk, I imagined them being roommates sharing their experiences as grad school students. One afternoon about a year ago, as I was leaving my driveway, I saw one of the two guys going out for a jog, this time his front facing me. “Is that….Alan, from the CSDE?”, I thought. No way! But sure enough, that day I realized Alan was my neighbor. From then on I would smile every time they walked in front of me remembering how our brain can pull tricks on our perceptions. The quiet older gentleman computing wiz from work can totally pull the grad-school look and jog like an athlete. From then on I frequently saw Alan starting or ending a jog. The last time I saw him in the neighborhood, he was running laps around the park in front of the Target as if he was training for a marathon. This makes his passing all the more unexpected.

Alan was a kind man. I could tell it was in his nature to help people from very seemingly simple gesture. I once arrived late to a crowded CSDE meeting and he immediately stood up and pulled a chair for me, letting me take his stop on the table. He then passed me a plate and utensils and offered to hand me any food I wanted. I don’t think he knew I was his neighbor but he sure treated me like one.

Thalia Freamon
Former CSDE Coworker

I can’t believe this. He will be so missed. When I worked in the front office, he was one of a handful of people who arrived as early as me and we had some interesting conversations. When he fixed something on my computer, I would ask him what he did. My interest was that I should be able to fix it myself the next time, but he would do a funny little hand gesture I think to indicate that he had no time for teaching. It was interesting listening to him and Matt Weatherford talking shop. It was SO far over my head. I have met his son. My heart goes out to him.

Please email csde_help@uw.edu if you have any trouble.