Rest in peace Ben

Ben and I at my Pinballz-based birthday party last Summer

Last Friday morning (Aug. 23, 2013) Austin, TX and Apple, Inc lost a person who made the world a better place. This is no hyperbole because many co-workers of all stripes liked Ben. I never heard a negative thing about his character or his work ethic, a hard thing to do in life regardless if you’re the POTUS or a burger flipper. I recently wanted to use his abilities at putting customers at ease with Aperture as a foundation to help others struggling with their interactions.

Ben Rasberry came into my life around early 2010 after he had completed his Enterprise ProApps training. I believe he was recruited from the iApps team so supporting Logic, Final Cut and Aperture wasn’t a difficult transition after mastering Garage Band, iMovie and iPhoto respectively. Being a Stars season-ticketholder and Ben having a cube along the high-traffic section of work area inevitably led to us socializing on the day he wore his Dallas Stars jersey.

Many conversations later led to us sharing numerous other favorite interests: D&D/Pathfinder, cartoons (Dexter’s Lab was the big inside joke for us), hockey and clever shirts. Ben once told me he originally wanted to get a job with DNA Productions since they were based in his original home area of Dallas; DNA is the company you see at the end of Jimmy Neutron cartoons. This plan was nixed by The Ant Bully, the  movie responsible for tanking DNA. Still, it all evolved into our ongoing inside joke of “omelete du fromage/it’s all you can say!” from Dexter’s Lab.

I’m glad Ben was able to attend a couple Stars games with me too. He was a Dallas fan and it’s always great to see how your team’s future prospects are tearing up the rink. Then you can say, “I saw so-and-so back when he was on our AHL team. He was awesome during those days too.”

Lastly, I want to say Ben’s smile, more upbeat demeanor and frequent, sincere laughter were infectious. There were times it helped me put my grouchiness or irritation at other co-workers into perspective. Plus the dude made some impressive beef jerky he was always willing to share. I was bummed the day Ben left for another, equally exclusive team at Apple a few weeks ago. However, I didn’t begrudge his decision, I immediately admitted to Ben I wanted him to stay for my own selfish reasons. I saw the upside though, Ben would be our organization’s liaison to his new one. Maybe we’d join up for team-building outings and/or have a friendly, annual game of softball against each other. He was a smart guy with solid customer-handling skills who would definitely have an advantage in this team thanks to his three years with ProApps.

All those past, wonderful memories do counter the sadness I feel, especially when I choked back the tears last Friday morning as my former manager Walt and current area manager Corky broke the news in private to me. Being human, I wanted to know the details but in the end, it doesn’t matter. What will matter is how we all remember Ben.

Currently the gears are turning in our collective heads, primarily by keeping an old AppleCare tradition. Naming a lab or meeting room after co-workers as a tribute to their memory. I would like to take a step further by piecing together a little plaque giving a quick explanation (for lack of a better word) due to the influx of new people at Apple. There are probably a couple hundred remaining employees who can say who was Lyons, Dee, Shank and Mistuyoshi; I knew two personally and the stories of the remainder. Several of us are petitioning to name the new ProApps lab in memoriam to Ben. Co-worker Misty helped coin its title too…Rasberry Fields Forever. We’ll see. I want to make sure Ben’s wife Ami approves. Much like Mitsuyoshi’s picture of Mount Fuji accompanying the Enterprise Server lab, I think there should be either a picture of the Dexter character (Ben’s favorite?) or the Dallas Stars logo. Again, Ami will be the best judge to decide this in due time.

The other matter some of us are collaborating on will require HR’s assistance. We want to do it correctly without anything coming off as panhandling or coercion.

Ben’s service will be tomorrow (Monday, August 26, 2013) up in Cedar Park. He is survived by his wife Ami and son Alex.