[IGSMAIL-3700]: Sad News: Mark Bryant

[Tom Clark (W3IWI)]

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IGS Electronic Mail      16 Jan 05:34:08 PST 2002      Message Number 3700
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Author: Tom Clark and Jeanne Sauber

It is with a great deal of sadness that I tell you of the passing of a
member of our community -- Mark Bryant. Mark died of a massive heart attack
Monday morning. He was in his early 40's and it is a shock to have one so
young struck down so unexpectedly.

A decade ago, Mark was with us in the Crustal Dynamics and Space Geodesy
Projects. He was a certified surveyor who tried to bring order out of the
chaos of the NASA-maintained site catalogs. He contributed significantly to
the development of low-cost geodetic markers. He practiced this art not only
with the Site Catalog documentation, but also by installing the IGS site at
the VLBA telescope on St Croix for Geoff Blewett and me, and then the Thule
site for Bob Schutz.

Mark left Goddard to take on a major customer support role with Trimble, and
then subsequently moved on to a similar position with Ashtech. During his
Ashtech days, Mark and his Ashtech cohort Bob Lemoine had great kicks out of
donating holiday time and frequent flyer miles to volunteer to work on the
Alaskan GPS program developed by Jeanne Sauber, Steph Stockman and me.

Mark loved having an excuse for a helicopter ride to set up and man a GPS
receiver in the Bagley icefield and at Cape Yakataga. Since a part of our
program involved an involvement with High School students, Mark and Bob
acted as mentors in Cordova and Kodiak, teaching the students to be young
surveyors. Most recently, Mark and Bob used their personal vacation time to
help establish our KODK IGS site jointly operated by GSFC, Kodiak High
School and Scripps.

If any of you are in the DC area, services will be Friday starting at 11 AM
at the funeral home at
   5308 Backlick Road
   Springfield VA 22151
   phone:703-549-0074

Mark was a great guy. He was always helpful in solving problems. He didn't
know how to say no. He always had a smile on his face. He was great company
in the field (especially in the bar at nite). He was our friend and we will
mis him.

Tom Clark
Jeanne Sauber