[Athen] HTCTU Loses Its Founder and Director

[Gaeir Dietrich]

Dear colleagues,

It is with a sense of both personal and professional loss that I inform you
of the passing of Carl Brown, founder and long-time director of the High
Tech Center Training Unit (HTCTU) of the California community college system
on Friday, November 21, 2008, at shortly before 5:00 p.m. 

Carl had not traveled much in the last few years, so he is not as well known
in assistive technology circles as he was ten years ago. Some of you who
have entered the field more recently may not have had the opportunity to
meet him. You missed a very subtle sense of humor, a love of practical
jokes, a compassionate humanitarian, a generous friend, and an incredible
visionary in the field of assistive technology. 

Carl Brown recognized the value of technology to assist students with
disabilities nearly 30 years ago when he was a computer instructor at
Monterey Peninsula College. It was through his personal vision and his
tenacity, along with the assistance of his wife, Martha Kanter, that he
convinced the CCC chancellor's office that the community colleges needed to
support assistive technology, not just on a campuswide basis, but as a
system. He convinced the system to not only provide money and equipment, but
also to set up a training facility to ensure that students would get both
the equipment and the trained faculty/staff that they would need in order to
succeed. Carl's lasting legacy is a training facility that is the envy of
the nation.

Carl's wife has arranged for a memorial service here on the De Anza College
campus in the Flint Center at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 4.

Martha has asked that, rather than flowers, individuals who wish to do so
make a donation to a scholarship that will be set up in Carl's name. We will
be meeting with the foundation next week to organize the scholarship, and
more information on how to contribute should be available by the memorial
service.

In the meantime, anyone who wishes to send condolences to Carl's wife,
Martha Kanter, can send them here to the HTCTU:

High Tech Center Training Unit
21050 McClellan Road
Cupertino, CA 93940

The HTCTU is Carl's dream and his legacy. Every person who is touched by our
trainings has been indirectly touched by Carl, and his vision and influence
will continue for many years to come.

 
******************************************************
Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
www.htctu.net
408-996-6043

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