Roland "Commander" Sykes
June 1st, 1953 - March 10th, 2008
Wizard, Bit Twiddler, Philosopher, Teacher, and most fun of
all...
The Bus Driver for ADAPT
From: Marsha Katz
My heart is broken. Roland is one of the people in ADAPT that I have quite simply come to love over the years. His strength, his passion, his unending brilliance and technological savvy, his ability to tell a story, that incredible voice, the sparkle in his eyes, his unending patience with me, and the gentleness and warmth with which he often told me I was doing something stupid....I can not imagine a world without those. He had so much heart, he was such a strong and faithful friend....sometimes putting the welfare of others above his own health needs, he was a dreamer who made his dreams come true (the Big White Cloud is an example of that), and he could talk your ear off. Even when Roland wasn't able to physically be at an action, his technology and his spirit were always there, and we communicated every day either by phone or by email because he sent out most of the press releases after I wrote them. I will miss his affirmations when he thought I got it rig ht, his pithy messages when I didn't hit quite hard enough, his partnership (along with Kathleen) in assuring the ADAPT PR got shared with the world. But mostly, I will miss Roland in all his unique and amazing personhood. He was one of a kind.
Marsha Katz
