@Martin RIP

Actually, I doubt that Martin wants peace - he always wanted to be where there was some interesting action.  I, as many others, was shocked to learn yesterday that Martin Schaedel (@Martin), involved early with  Farecompare and internet investor and entrepreneur, had been killed in a plane crash at Santa Monica Airport, where he had been taking flying lessons for the past week.
   I only knew him since October, when I met him at Betaworks day in NY.  But it's a measure of how internet techology works that he and I became friends very quickly.  We clicked at Betaday, and had lunch a few days later - giving our backgrounds and finding things in our interests that intersected.  of course he was young and dating supermodels, and I have a forty one year marriage and six grandchildren, but those differences were not at all relevant to people who love life and everything about it.
   Ten years ago, I might have seen him every few months and felt that he was an acquaintance. Now, we got on each other's twitter streams and sent recommendations and comments about travel, restaurants and people to meet. it made for a much more friend relationshsip than merely acquaintance.
   After his trip to Asia last Christmas, when I was chiding him for not knowing that it's now called Myanmaar (he said it was tough to get the visas for Burma), he emailed to say he was going to be in LA after Sundance, where he had checked out a film one of my cousins worked on,  and did I know folks he should meet.  I suggested the founders of GumGum (a First Round investment where I'm on the board), and they set it up for Wednesday.  They did meet (see photo - probably the last one of Martin), and had such a good meeting before lunch that he came back for a few hours after lunch to set up next steps.

    Then he told Ophir and Air he had to get to Santa Monica Airport for a 4 pm flight with a friend in an aerobatic trainer (the Italian Marchetti).  It crashed shortly after takeoff, cutting off two lives in their prime.
    I feel richer for having known him even the short four months that I did, and see the great value in these modern tools that can connect lives more richly than ever before. And I hope that he has gotten into the VIP rooms wherever he's ended up - he'll add to their fun as well.

Comments

[Andy Weissman]

Howard:

I am glad we played a small part in connecting you to the world Martin inhabited, a world that I think we all were lucky just to get small glimpses of. Martin will be missed.

Andy

[frontierblog]

I cannot agree more, actually I wrote a similar post weeks ago

Edward

Frontier Blog - No one ahead, no one behind
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