Blade Network Technologies Looses a Champion, Mentor, and Great Friend to Cancer
On Saturday, March 31st,2007, at 6:40 p.m. EDT, Harry Cheselka, who made many contributions during his distinguished 37+ year career at IBM, passed away after a very hard fought battle with cancer.
I first met Harry in early 2002, in Raleigh, N.C when we (as part of Nortel) commenced discussions with IBM to build what would become the industry’s very first Layer 2-7 blade server switch.
My fellow employees and I were extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such a talented and accomplished engineer.
On many an occasion, with every blade server switch product we built for the IBM BladeCenter – we faced immense engineering challenges. On more than one occasion with each of these projects, our engineers ran into what appeared to be insurmountable challenges.
On every one of these occasions Harry sat us down and said “We’re not going to give up now are we? There is a solution to every problem; we must find it”. And every single time Harry held our hand and guided us toward the solution.
Harry was a true champion with a penchant for solving the most difficult problems; a true fighter who never gave up – at work and in his personal life. He was an extremely genuine person who took great joy in helping others overcome their obstacles and achieve success. He was a very humble man who never spoke of his many accomplishments, yet never missed to recognize and complement others for their accomplishments and contributions.
A truly caring person, Harry made time to tackle his own challenges only after he had helped others overcome theirs – both at work and on the home front.
Harry battled a very aggressive form of cancer with the same admirable qualities - extremely positive attitude; never losing hope; always seeking a solution; always concerned about how his friends were doing; and very concerned about the well being and comfort of his parents both of who are well into their eighties.
Harry’s friends at IBM and BLADE will miss him dearly.
And, at BLADE, we will never forget what this great IBM engineer taught us – “never give up no matter how difficult the problem”.
I first met Harry in early 2002, in Raleigh, N.C when we (as part of Nortel) commenced discussions with IBM to build what would become the industry’s very first Layer 2-7 blade server switch.
My fellow employees and I were extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such a talented and accomplished engineer.
On many an occasion, with every blade server switch product we built for the IBM BladeCenter – we faced immense engineering challenges. On more than one occasion with each of these projects, our engineers ran into what appeared to be insurmountable challenges.
On every one of these occasions Harry sat us down and said “We’re not going to give up now are we? There is a solution to every problem; we must find it”. And every single time Harry held our hand and guided us toward the solution.
Harry was a true champion with a penchant for solving the most difficult problems; a true fighter who never gave up – at work and in his personal life. He was an extremely genuine person who took great joy in helping others overcome their obstacles and achieve success. He was a very humble man who never spoke of his many accomplishments, yet never missed to recognize and complement others for their accomplishments and contributions.
A truly caring person, Harry made time to tackle his own challenges only after he had helped others overcome theirs – both at work and on the home front.
Harry battled a very aggressive form of cancer with the same admirable qualities - extremely positive attitude; never losing hope; always seeking a solution; always concerned about how his friends were doing; and very concerned about the well being and comfort of his parents both of who are well into their eighties.
Harry’s friends at IBM and BLADE will miss him dearly.
And, at BLADE, we will never forget what this great IBM engineer taught us – “never give up no matter how difficult the problem”.
posted by Vikram Mehta @ 3:32 PM
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