What can I say about Jake, lots and lots but space is limited. I first met Jake when I hired him in 1998 a fresh and eager co-op student full of piss and vinegar. RIM was small then and the need for BlackBerry developers was insatiable. Needless to say his work ethic was amazing and soon he was coding up our first protocol links between our enterprise servers and our infrastructure. (Doing this as a co-op was no small job!). Not only was he easy to manage but it seemed my biggest challenge was reeling him in from having put too much work on his own plate. The next three years we worked on an off together within the software team, but our ways parted as I migrated to the patent team to face other battles. However our friendship re-established itself last year when Jake himself took the plunge and joined the patent team. As was so characteristic of Jake’s style and panache, his arrival provided a new spark of life for me in the patent team. His enthusiasm for everything he did brought new life to the Patent Committee and he and I worked 10 months trying to improve the quality of new innovations accepted and approved within RIM. He would often pull me from my desk-stupor for a short walk over to Tim Horton’s where we would discuss our respective future plans for family, life and RIM. The photo I’ve enclosed for everyone to see is typical of Jake for me; he has that joyful gaze and look of amazement in his eyes that comes from seeing life from a fresh perspective all the time. Jake could be child-like in his passion for life and this moment seem right to share this photo with you all. This was taken on my 50th birthday, April 20, 2007 on the day I submitted my resignation from RIM, a decision I discussed often with him.
All the best Jake in your next amazing journey… Gary
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