Derek was a man of many passions. As his younger cousin, I naturally took every opportunity to copy him.

As a young child, I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world that my cousin was a drummer in a band. I had the time of my life when I got to bring a little toy guitar to Wheaton and have a jam session with Derek up in the attic.

Around the time he graduated from DePaul with a degree in computer science, I asked him to teach me how to code. During a trip up to Chicago to visit him, I remember badgering him with naive questions about programming at the Museum of Science and Industry. He took us back to his apartment and showed me how to write a “Hello, World!” program in Python. One Christmas not long after, when I got the parts to build a custom PC, Derek spent the evening showing me how to put it together.

Whenever I saw Derek, he always had an interesting story or a new hobby that he had already become an expert in. You could tell that he not only had a deep knowledge of the things that he was interested in, but a passion that would rub off on anyone he spoke to.

Derek taught me how to be curious. He showed me how fun it is to develop an interest in something and learn as much as you can. He showed me how many fascinating details there are in everything if you just look hard enough. He was an intelligent, passionate, kind man. I’ve always looked up to Derek, and I will always miss him.