Today we're here to celebrate the life of someone truly special, our dear friend Larry Cepuran.

First off, Larry wasn't just a photographer; he was like a wizard with a camera, especially when it came to capturing the night sky. I mean, who else would rent a car at CES and drive out to the middle of nowhere just to snap some shots of the Milky Way? That's dedication right.

When it came to work, Larry was the real MVP. I remember how lost we sometimes felt when it came to how things worked on the vehicle side integration during the early days of the GM connected infotainment project. But Larry swooped in like a superhero, armed with his intelligence and leadership skills, and saved the day. He also started and led the buildup of the Warren Infotainment software team. Without Larry, we probably wouldn’t be in the inhouse software business.

Now, when it came to drinks, Larry had his priorities straight. Jameson after hours and Mountain Dew during work? Classic Larry. Whenever he decided to visit us in the Sunnyvale or Beijing offices, we had a stash of Mountain Dew ready for him. I even have a picture of him next to a “Chinese labeled” Mountain Dew.

Let's talk about Larry's spreadsheet game for a second. He had a formula for everything. I'm talking about spreadsheets so fancy, you'd think he got a PhD in Excel. I remember once when we were tackling the mountain/area chart for resource planning: all we had to do was plug in a few numbers, and boom, Larry's spreadsheet would work its magic and smooth out all the curves for our headcount forecast. If we did not like the forecast or the ramp up curve, we just keep changing those numbers until we were satisfied.

Let’s not forget about the intense arguments we used to have back in the day--Larry, Vadim, Matt, Bill, and I. But you know what? Larry was always the voice of reason, keeping things technical, straight to the point, and above all, honest. Even if I didn’t agree with him at times, he has always had my respect.

Now, I want to share one last story about Larry and his integrity. We were in a project meeting one time, and one of the executives was making some questionable statements. And what did Larry do? He mutters to himself, "That's not true." But guess what – even though his voice was low, but still half the room heard it, including the executive himself. So Larry, right?

So here's to you, Larry. Thank you for the laughs, the lessons, and the memories. You may be gone, but your spirit lives on in all of us. Cheers, my friend!