From Steven Fyke

"Jake and I just clicked" It’s something I’ve heard over and over again this past week and it’s true for me as well. I met Jake, and we just clicked. I think that’s what happens when you’re as truly genuine as Jake. He would tell you what he thought, and listen to what you had to say. He was a fabulous friend to anyone that spoke to him.

I met Jake through work and I wish I had more time to get to know him better personally. The time I had we spent talking about life, love, work, the universe and everything over Hot Chocolate or lunch at Janet Lynn’s. We had formulated grandiose plans to take over the world (or at least a small portion of RIM) and I had every faith in him that it would happen. He was passionate about everything he did in life, and I will miss him dearly.

Perhaps one of my favorite things about Jake was that his style (personality and fashion) shone through regardless of where he was and what he was doing. This is a picture of the Patent Committee at last years patent dinner. Take careful note of everyone’s shoes. :)



Steven Fyke

Cyclist Escort

A photo of Jake's cyclist escort:

Picture of Jake

This picture of Jake was taken by Jeff McDowell on the Rim jet about 3 years ago.

"We were on a trip to Sun Microsystems and the two of us took turns in the right seat (co-pilot) on the way home. It was a blast."

-Jeff

First Impressions

I've only spent time with Jake on a handful of occasions since he and Alex began their relationship. I grew up with Alex back in Ottawa and have been blessed to call her a friend for almost 26 years now.

When news of Jake's death came to us, one of the first things I did was go and dig out my old journals. In them I still have some of the letters Alex wrote to me while she was at University in K-W and I, in Ottawa.

"You'd love it here, Carly. Conrad Grebel is amazing. I want to tell you about some of the people I've met so far ... Jake (Jacob - the name) is Mennonite. He helped me move in and is coming to pick me up soon to walk me to my studio. Most of the guys are more than willing to do that for you."

That letter was written sometime in the first weeks of September 1995, before they started dating. A sign of things to come. She goes on to write more about him in future letters. You can feel her glowing right off the pages.

I think the first time I met Jake in person was on one of their trips to Ottawa to visit Alex's family. It must have been one of the first times, because I remember Alex telling me how her Mom had made lasagna for supper and he ate every bite, even asking for seconds, despite having problems digesting dairy. Some might say he would have wanted to make a good impression on Alex's parents, but I'm certain his "motives" would have gone even deeper. Knowing how hard Mrs. J would have worked on the meal, he wouldn't have wanted her to feel badly about serving something he couldn't eat.

Although I didn't know him well, he was always warm and welcoming (even when putting this weekend "guest" to work in the yard) and thoughtful. I was most impressed by his way of looking at you when you were speaking, listening deeply, as though what you had to say was more important than anything and everything.

It's clear from the many wonderful stories I've heard over the last couple of weeks that Jake will be deeply missed and equally importantly, lovingly remembered. My prayers and sympathies go out to all of his family, friends and colleagues.

Jake and 606

Recently, I moved buildings at work. During my "re-setup my environment" phase I opened up a file explorer window to find a remote file server. There, under the list of "commonly visited servers" was "jsauer-lt.rim.net".

When I first met Jake, I confessed to many that "I really don't listen to any music that's been recorded since 1971"; my clear focus was on jazz and blues from the 30s up through the mid-to-late sixties, and very little after that time period.

Then, for some reason, I made some comment about 'Beck' to Jake because I'd seen one of his videos while channel flipping.

"You know, that's not really representative of his wider work. He's done some really cool stuff, especially recently. Why don't you give my collection a listen?"

So I did.

At today's funeral I was reminded of Jake's interest in music, as we ended our remembrance of him by singing "Praise God From Whom". The sudden sureness and firmness of all the menno-voices in the audience rose to meet this familiar hymnal standard, and I was reminded of the cultural roots that Jake and I shared.

Thank-you, Jake, for introducing me to Beck and RadioHead and other modern pop-music. I might have found them eventually, but you made sure I found them with an open mind. Now my palette is wider, thanks to your friendship.

From Milosz Sikora

I met Jake through Matt Charters back when I was looking for my last co-op placement in the fall of 2004. Jake was the lead for Matt's team at RIM and had mentioned that he was looking for a co-op. Matt suggested me, a fellow CSer and brand new bandmate.

The first time I met Jake, he was wearing an ensemble that looked to me like "designer hippie". That's the best I can describe it. I learned later that my first impression was half-correct (he was, in fact, NOT a hippie). If you think it's strange to spend half a blog post dedicated to the memory of a friend talking about clothes, you did not know Jake. :)

The interview itself turned out to be my favourite one of my co-op career. Instead of the usual crap about what you know, your strengths, weaknesses, etc., he merely looked at my resume said, "Well this looks good enough" and proceeded to give me two brain teasers.

Now I love love love brain teasers and managed to get both by the end, although there were a couple of moments where he seemed to be fine with me quitting. He was judging my "thinking skills" he said and not whether I could do them.

So I got the job at the end of the interview.

Over the next few years I had no trouble staying in touch especially after starting my full time job at RIM.

We still saw each other for lunch every two weeks or so and we'd always talk about computers (natch), cycling (his one true love), clothes (our mutual love), and rock stardom (I'm pretty sure Jake secretly wanted to be the singer in a rock band).

He was easily one of the smartest people I knew but he also had a charm that made that intelligence something you wanted to learn from and emulate instead of feeling alienated by it. He had this infectious enthusiasm that was as genuine towards your own goals and ideas as his own.

He was a rare breed and I'll miss him tons.

Milosz Sikora

Ramblings from a fellow secret service agent [Grebel] ;)

I got to know Jake when our rooms at Grebel were somehow chosen directly across from each other. It was the fall of 1995 and I believe Jake was starting his 2a term in Electrical, while I was starting 2b in Systems. For the bunch of us (feel free to comment) it was probably our best term in university if you discount the academic side of things. I don't know how I managed to pass that term, however Jake and Mikey (Jake's roommate) never had any issue ... in fact Mikey's the only person I know who avoided attending classes after midterms and then would basically stay up 2 days straight, read through the calculus text and ace the exam, good thing they don't test for caffeine levels eh Mikey?

A group of us formed the secret service, mostly as a gag, to protect the Grebel student president, Graham Wall from the dangers of a Mennonite college.

From left to right we've got Mike Brubacher, Ron Roth, Jake, Myself and Jaby Jacob (we're holding Jimmy) -- honourary members were Roobs and Eric Simon. With many other friends from Conrad Grebel we shaped each others' faith, values, aspirations and dreams while having the time of our lives. A bunch of us met our future spouses through this adventure; interesting how Grebel's done that for so many.

This past week while devastating, has been rich with memories. We've been reliving those Grebel memories from 13 years ago. Like the late night talks trying to devise the ultimate prank that would enshrine us into Grebel lore. We thought we came close with the Styrofoam cup prank, but institutions don't have memories, those are only found in it's inhabitants. Prank honourable mentions by the secret service would have to be Ron and

Bob Hillhouse's collaborative love letter to Shauna Lee on behalf of Jaby; and subsequent disassemble of Bob's car and being placed in the cafeteria (funny how Ron was involved in both of those); the co-op term email marathons, hanging of the mannequin in the quad shower (no one ever said we had tact, sorry Sue).

After the Fall of '95 we spent one more term together at Grebel in the summer of '96. My memory from the summer was Eric Simon's psychotic camping trip. Alex mentioned the other day that Jake has refused to go camping ever since. Eric's slightly hardcore when it comes to the outdoors (check out his post-Secret Service adventures), so we're still not sure if Eric decided on purpose to plan the 100km paddle completely up stream through the windiest swamps that Algonquin has to offer. There were six of us on the trip, Ron and Roobs, Mikey and Jake and Eric and I. Basically all we did was paddle paddle paddle, eat, paddle another 8 hours and then sleep. The picture in my head from that trip is all of us standing in a circle laughing our heads off at the misery we were in. This mental picture was right after Jake and Mikey tried to paddle through a portage sign up some creek only to find out that there was a 25 foot drop. Then while bush-whacking back to the portage trail they got caught in a snap thunderstorm with Mikey narrowly escaping a lightening strike. It was a good thing they were carrying their aluminium Outers Club special when a nearby tree was smoked while Mikey was standing on its roots; nothing funnier than the sight and smell of Mikey's electrifying shock ... it was either laugh or cry. The trip ended, thank god, and we all enjoyed a collection of Cuban stogies. If Jabe had come we would've had pictures :)

After the summer of '96 we moved out of Grebel and into the dilapidated 318 Erb street house for the Winter of '97 (Eric's stereo removed most of the plaster on the ceiling of the room below it). It was there that we experienced the Kitchen Jake ... this guy was a kitchen clean freak. Mikey's still in amazement of how many times he'd (Mikey) come in, pull a loaf of bread out of the cupboard, then reach for the peanut butter and jam only to look back see that the bread was gone, with Jake having already put it away.

For me another special time was the Summer of '97 as I married Melissa. Jake hosted the guys at his cottage (basically the secret service were the groom's men) for a breakfast of steak and eggs (I'm pretty sure that Kate cooked it up) followed by a football game. Before marching off to the church, Lee lent me his socks (who knew the tux didn't come with them:)

As school started to wind down for us, we began to move our separate ways, occasionally getting together for one of our weddings or a cottage weekend. (For me getting married put a bit of distance as I became a secret service alumni) Jabe's wedding in NYC was definitely memorable as we played follow that cab with our host Mark Hogan. Then we all checked out the urinals (no joke, you could pee into a waterfall ... definitely helps) at the hotel Jake and Alex were staying at in Manhattan.

[I do remember in the Fall of '99 Jake giving us some financial advice, 'don't buy rim stock ... it's overvalued' ... ah thanks Jake ;) ]

Throughout these memories Jake was constant; intense, honest, encouraging, passionate and caring to all those around him. He always threw himself into his pursuits with everything he had (James Schellenberg ... do you have any of the movie scripts that you and Jake wrote?). With Jake's passing, although heart wrenching, he's given us a gift. The threads of our stories are no longer diverging but converging; renewing bonds, sharing memories and making new friendships with the diverse collection of people that Jake cared so deeply for. Jake, thank you for this gift, I only wish you were with us to enjoy the wealth of relationships that you're continuing to build.

A Persistent Friend

Jake and Craig and I met periodically for lunch since working together several years ago. Jake was the one who persisted and followed up to ensure that we continued to meet even after our offices were no longer side by side.

The conversation was varied and always interesting. Jake had an animated way of telling a story that was inspiring ('unbelievable'). We talked about everything from children and child birth and schools to articles from the economist and idea conferences and how to maintain innovative cultures and market based models for product development :).

And occasionally the subject of the Jake's new bike would come up.

"You told us about that last time we met" one of us would say.

"No... this is a new one".

:)

One time my son Jordan came along to pick up a bike from the bike shop in Jake's basement. My son looked around wide eyed at the bikes. Jake took the time to setup the bike and show Jordan the bike stand and the tools he was using. On the way home Jordan told me that whatever he ended up doing when he grew up he wanted a bike shop like that :)

I will miss his council, encouragement and the persistence of his friendship. I could share with him complicated concerns and frustrations and if I needed it he would say 'I hear you, I understand why you are hesitant, but this is what you need to do'... and then he would follow up with periodic reminders 'have you done that yet?' and 'This is my encouragement email to you re...'.

I am going to miss you, Jake.

Thank you for your ear and your encouragement. When we talked I felt like great things were possible.

A Cut Above

Jake’s many endearing qualities made it easy to like and respect him; those who knew Jake to any degree knew he was a cut above the rest. A memory that comes to mind is of a day when I saw Jake above the rest in a literal sense. A few years ago at a team building event to go indoor rock climbing, I found myself watching in awe as Jake, clearly an experienced climber, scaled the walls with what seemed like no effort at all. I was astounded by his ability and the heights he reached.

Thank you Sean, Gary and Ray. This growing collection of memories of Jake is a gift.

"Do what you do best. Just do."

Jake was someone who could quickly understand details. He was able to keep track of multiple issues in multiple programming languages (although you'd never hear him admit it :). And yet I always found him open to he was always open and encouraging to questions, new ideas and suggestions.

At one time he setup an internal blog to share ideas. What he wrote I think reflects a little of his team and leadership style that I and others appreciated. Here are two excerpts

"This is all about collaboration. So come here and read, write and contribute. Know software? Write code. Know hardware? build stuff. Know design? Make graphics. Do what you do best. Just do."

"If you’ve found this then we need you. Read the posts. Something strike you? Contribute: Ideas, code, h/w, graphics, design, ergonomics, docs. Whatever. Just innovate and collaborate."

Cyclist escort for funeral procession

From the Waterloo Cycling Club

From Gary Mousseau

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 50^th 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

Spirited...

If I had to choose one word to describe Jake, it would be spirited (adj) - having or showing mettle, courage, vigor, liveliness, etc. The JDE team was one of the first teams I had the privilege to work with when I joined RIM just over three years ago. Jake was the lead developer on the team and impressed me from the start with his wisdom and patience even when bombarded with questions. Jake was full of charisma, enthusiasm and zealousness for not only his work, but also for the team of which he was a part. I remember later on, he and I would run triages together and confuse everyone else because we moved issues around at ‘exhilarating speed’ (as Viktor called it). When Alex and Jake were expecting Stella and a couple of the other team members where about to become new fathers, our team meetings would often begin with funny updates on everyone’s kids (both already here and those on their way) before we got down to business. Jake was truly an inspiration – loyal, devoted and passionate and will always be remembered with great fondness at RIM…

Grebel Days

During his university days at Grebel, Jake was part of a group of goofy high-security goons who decided that the student council president needed a secret service team. Like all good secret service teams, Jake and his cohorts discussed the need for an appropriately professional uniform, and from that point on followed the student council president around at events wearing bright red long johns. That's him, front left, in the all-college picture.

That same year, a ridiculously silly and always fun basketball team entered the U of W co-rec basketball league. Because it was ridiculously silly and always fun, it seemed logical, I suppose, to name it after Jake. Which is what they did. These are two pictures of the team known simply as "Jake Sauer", engaging in silliness that very much matched the spirit of their namesake.

Dara Douma

Kitchener Record story

There's a story about Jake on the front page of today's Record. Links to the PDFs are below:

Page 1
Page 2

Biking with Jake

I first met Jake soon after I joined RIM at the end of 1999. We got along very well and ended up becoming friends. Early on he started pestering me to start biking with him. It was clear he was very passionate about it! After a month or two of this he finally got me out to try it, and it turns out he was right about how fun it was. Thank you Jake!

There's a few things about biking with Jake that stick out in my mind. I started riding on an old beater bike of mine, and regardless of how many upgrades or new bikes I purchased he'd always have suggestions on how to spend lots more money on gear. He was extremely accomodating and encouraging to people he biked with (although the instant he got a little bit of competition it all went out the window!). I have many fond memories of biking with him out to Elora, at the Hydro Cut, in Gatineau and in France.

Eventually Jake's focus and talent meant that he was leaving me in the dust, so we didn't bike as much together. I then had to content myself enjoying his stories of trips to France, Italy and the US, as well as races. He was almost comically humble. He would never brag about his successes, to the point where it was almost impossible to get him to admit he had been the best rider on a particular day. If I hadn't known him well I wouldn't have any idea how accomplished he was!

New Conversation at: 25/03/2004 12:58:29 PM
[25 12:59 PM] yes to biking?
[25 12:59 PM] yes
[25 12:59 PM] yay yay yay!!

Brian.

Jake

Jake and I were more acquaintances than close friends, but I did have quite a few chats with him about bikes. He was always friendly, positive and good humoured.

One of my fondest memories of Jake is something that I didn't witness myself but was relayed to me by Brian Young: he towed Stella in a bike trailer up Mt. Ventoux, one of the toughest climbs in Europe!

In the past few days I think I've spent as much time talking to others about Jake and reading about him than I spent talking to Jake himself in the 7 years since I met him. This process has only served to magnify what a great guy he was and how much he'll be missed.

Ray Vander Veen

Best men and names

I first met Jake in 1999 when I moved back to Canada to start in the BlackBerry team.

A group of us used to go for lunch together almost every day and discuss work, bicycling, cars, politics, love and life -- all the usual guy stuff. Jake was an amazingly thoughtful, considerate and wonderful part of that group -- so much so that when I got married in Toronto many years ago, I asked him to be one of my "best men" and to stand up with me.

We worked very closely together for 3 years before I decided to wander yet again. Since then we had remained in contact and visited on both sides of the pond when possible.

My world is smaller now.

Jake had made such a great impression on me that recently, in very different circumstances for me, a few miles, years, and relationships further on, I had proposed to my wife who is 6 months pregnant that Jake would be a great name for our son and I told Jake this:

-----Original Message-----
From: Jacob Sauer
Sent: March 31, 2007 4:23 PM
To: Michael Maguire
Subject: Re: hey!
Mike, no worries i understand how busy things can get!
[...]
And good names :)

all the best to Babettli and the rest of the gang...
cheers,
Jake

On 31-Mar-07, at 04:30, Michael Maguire wrote:

> Jake,
>
> [...]
>
> P.S.: I'm sure you're aware of the difficulty of choosing a name for a kid.
> We've gone through a few iterations already. Usually names never make it
> through "phase I" (the outright rejection phase by Babettli or me) based on
> whether we know annoying people with those names. Then comes "phase II"
> (casually passing it by our parents for approval). Although I'm sure it
> will be liable to change again, the current working titles (which definitely
> made it through "phase I" and "phase II" are "Giacomo" (In english he will
> be "Jack") or "Giacobo" ("Jacob" or "Jake").


There are still a few months to go and life is never certain, but my wife and I have decided that "Giacobbe" (Italian for "Jacob") is a great name.

Two worlds...

I first met Jake electronically as J. Sauer, a name and part of a legacy for me to decipher in my new job at RIM 8 years ago. Little did I know that the name belonged to the lanky, not quite yet graduated, grinning lad who welcomed me over the cube wall. Throughout that first year, Jake would answer my questions with courtesy and patience. He always seemed to have a smile on his face and sense of style that allowed him to handle stressful situations with grace.

One day, amid the exhilarating chaos, I looked up from my monitor to find the tables turned: Jake was asking me a question...about wheels...bike wheels and where were good places to ride.

Riding in the Hydrocut a few weeks later, the leanest and possibly fastest dog on the planet, blurred across the path in front of me and streaked off into the woods. This was followed by a sharp whistle and the call of a familiar voice as the owner pedalled up behind. 'Don't worry, she doesn't bite.' to which I replied... 'Jake?'. This time I was a little quicker in putting two and two together as I learned that the owner of this speedy dog could only belong to one of the most talented, and enthusiatic cyclists in the region. From then on, I came to know Jake more as a cyclist than through work as we had both moved on to different areas but shared the passion of two wheels.

During a 'vacation' to 'hills' of South Carolina spring 2005, I further witnessed the depth of Jake's passion and flare for cycling as the guys would suit up each morning for the day's punishment, er, I mean, ride. But that year no one could touch Jake as each morning he would emerge dressed in a different full kit of each of his favourite teams. Later he would sit and meticulously clean his bike, the smile still on his face as he and the guys would joke about who-beat-who to the top that day. The following year he missed the South Carolina boot camp for a set of very important reasons: Alex, Stella and Mount Ventoux.

Jake always had a word of encouragement as he would race by me much the same way he had that day in the forest or as he and Alex with baby Stella would cheer myself and many others from the sidelines. Listening to his teammates talk of 'how can we work together to get Jake to the front for the sprint' speaks volumes to how talented and respected Jake was in the local racing community.

Tabi Ferguson

Working with Jake

Jake and I came to our work at RIM at nearly the same time; he was fresh out of school, and I had hopped around a bunch of other companies in the area before settling in at RIM.

Over our first year at the company, we worked within a team that fashioned the first "new" set of applications that became the modern BlackBerry: all built in Java. Jake's area of responsibility was building our new set of public application APIs and mine was describing them.

I worked closely with Jake for about four years, and during that time I always found him to be courteous, generous, thoughtful, humorous, and exuberant. I'm sure there were times that we didn't see eye to eye, but I honestly can't ever remember quarrelling with him.

My fondest memory of Jake is attending the meetings that he chaired: he hated wasting time in meetings, and so he picked up everyone in the room on his back and shuddered forward at exhilarating speed. If you hesitated, you were lost. I think Jake got the same kind of joy from moving his meetings along that he got from free-wheeling down a steep hill with the wind in his grin.

Jake and I had similar backgrounds and upbringings so, despite the difference in our ages, I always felt a deep understanding for the kind of person Jake was. Like everyone else, Jake had his shortcomings, but those who knew him must have surely come to the conclusion that he was a very good man.