[802.3_DIALOG] Hugh Barrass - A true character

["Gary Nicholl (gnicholl)" <gnicholl@xxxxxxxxx>]

It has been almost 24 hours since I received the phone call from Mark telling me that Hugh had passed away. It was absolutely  the last thing I was  expecting to hear at 3pm on a normal Wednesday afternoon.  I , like a number of us, had just been on a conference call with him the day before discussing  400GE use cases.  It was just like any other call/meeting with Hugh, some great technical insights balanced with a lot of laughs. That was Hugh. 

I am still in shock over the news. To be honest it still hasn’t really sunk in. I think one of the reasons is that Hugh was always so full of life, bigger than life in a lot of ways, and I just can’t process the fact that he is not around anymore. It is going to be difficult walking into the hotel bar in San Diego, and not finding Hugh sitting there and coming out with some completely unexpected, off-the-cuff , but ultimately funny comment. 

Hugh was a true character and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. 

Gary