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In Memoriam - Bert de Roo

Kirstie Bennett

Well-known member
Messages
58
Location
Berkeley, CA
Company
The Framer's Workshop
A very sad day for our industry. In case you did not receive the email tonight, Bert de Roo passed away yesterday.
Here is the notice from Frame Ready:

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the unexpected passing of Bert de Roo, creator of FrameReady software and founder of SoftTouch Solutions, Inc.
Bert was successfully recovering from heart surgery when he developed complications. Despite the efforts of a skilled team, he passed away on Thursday, February 22nd.
Those of us who had been fortunate enough to know and work with Bert have lost a colleague, an inspiring mentor, and more importantly a friend. To Bert, FrameReady was his home, the employees were his extended family, and his clients were his dear friends. He was a very generous and caring person who was involved in our local community.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Bert’s sudden passing, or our gratitude for the opportunity to have worked with him. He will be dearly missed.
He is survived by his wife, Evelyn, their two children and two grandchildren.

If you wish to express condolences or share a memory, please send your message to bert@frameready.com and we will see that it is passed onto his family.


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[FONT=&quot]For those who don't know, the company was recently sold with all employees remaining. Carol is still there, and they have enlisted the services of an expert File Maker developer. I spent a good part of the day on the phone today with David, who is base[/FONT][FONT=&quot]d in Colorado. He was tremendously helpful in helping me add needed features to my copy of the software. These features will help me with multiple area corporate invoicing and will be available this year to all subscribers in Frame Ready 11. This is the kind of thing that Bert would have done. I was impressed with David's knowledge, his professionalism, and with the clearly evident willingness to be helpful. Until the very end of our multiple conversations throughout the day, he did not let on that anything was wrong until I mentioned Bert this evening. Bert left the company in good hands. Bert's 20 years of work on Frame Ready will be carried on. My heart goes out to Evelyn and to everyone at Frame Ready. Keep up the good work. I know you will.[/FONT]
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Thank you for posting. I knew the company had sold but did not realize Bert was in ill health. I will keep his family and all at Frameready in my thoughts and prayers.
 
I'm very sorry to hear of Bert's passing. I always enjoyed hearing from him, and he was a generous supporter of the International Framing Competition Judges Awards for many years.
 
I always feel strange clicking on that little button that says "Like this Thread" for someone's obituary, how can one truly "like" hearing about the passing of a friend?

I cut my teeth on framing programs with FrameReady many years ago and the help that Bert and Carol Graham gave me was more than one could ever expect from a creator of a computer program with all the complications and updates and new moulding, matboards, hardware, new this and new that to contend with and keep updated. And, at every trade show, no matter where or how large, each of these dear friends took time to throw a warm hug or a handshake my way and ask how I was doing. I value that type of friendship above any and I want to make that clear now.

So Carol, my most favorite "go to" person on the face of this earth, and Evelyn, the suspected "secret foundation" of Soft Tough Solutions, I wish you both fair winds and good traveling in your journeys and I hope that this passing will strengthen your drive to carry on where Bert left off. I cannot imagine STS without Bert at the helm but I know that you have chosen well the new "crew" to move STS ahead in the coming years.

You are a part of my definition of "Good People".
 
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