MEMORIAL LIMERICK ARCHIVE
The largest limerick archive on the internet was developed by Tony Davie of the software architecture group in the School of Computer Science at St Andrews University in Fife, Scotland. During 2001 and 2002 he was looking for someone to take the site over but never made a decision. On Jan 28th, 2003 he regrettably succumbed following a long illness.
On the Limericks group, the following regrets were noted
Hugh Clary somberly announced:
I understand Tony Davie, whose famous on-line archive of limericks is
unparalled anywhere in the world, passed away on Wednesday, January 8,
2003. I have sent an e-mail to his son, Thomas, to see if he needs help
with anything. I will let you know his response.
I responded:
I only knew him from his archival work and I was honoured to
be mentioned on his links page. To his family and friends, I extend my
sympathy.
Hugh queried:
Does he have anyone that will maintain the site (if you know)?
I admitted to preparing for the worst
The whole of his lim'ric collection
* "to his memory"
When he first announced that he would no longer be maintaining his
site, I offered to help out, and he replied that he had someone else
who was going to do the job, but that he would keep my name in
reserve. As time has passed, I became more concerned as there appeared
to be no work being done on the site. About six months ago, I noticed
that he had lost all his email contacts so I re-offered but received
no reply. Now I know why there was no reply. Last night and this
morning, following your announcement, I downloaded all the "sources"
in his "old limerick" site (I think I got it all) and I will store it
until there is a decision about the current sites future. I envision a
sort of "Tony Davie Memorial Limerick Archive" should it become
necessary to create a new site.
I am not actually offering to host the memorial site as I am unsure
that I could keep up the work-pace required as I have a number of
other projects at the moment. (Although just keeping it as it was when
he stopped work on it is an option) So I will repeat Tony's plea - if
it becomes necessary, is there anyone out there who is willing to take
on the Limerick Archive and keep it online?
I'm sorry about all of the prose
Yet Tony was much more than just another limericist. He was a mathematician specialising in computer language design. Others also regretted his passing.
From Kevin Hammond, www.haskell.org.
Dear Haskell list member,
There once lived a Tony named Davie,
Sorry I never came up with one when you asked us to. Claus
The Classic Music Pages have a reference to Tony, showing another of his interests.
"Davie, Tony - is a computer scientist at St. Andrews University, Scotland. He gained his great love of Handel from his father, the late Cedric Thorpe Davie, professor of music at St. Andrews University. He experiments with designs for computer interfaces to thematic catalogues of music. "
Tony also had a major Handel Catalogue & Chronology on his website which apparently is now completely non-existant.
There once was a scholar named Tony,
Of St. Andrews, in Scotland, a crony,
Who has recently passed
Making skies overcast
And all of our faces turn stony.
Our life is a little bit poorer
Now Tony's old soul's done a soarer
He gave lots of pleasure
His archive's a treasure
I wish he could do an encorer
The death of The Master's a drag,
But, what about all of his swag?
I'd hate to see tossed
All his lims, and be lost,
So someone must carry the flag.
Downloading in my drives direction
Cos losing the lot
Is an idea that's not
Good and to him* it's gross deriliction.
This wordiage just seems to grows.
I talk far too much -
I'm sure that as such
I must get up everyones nose.
Ærchie
It is with regret that I must inform you of the death of Tony Davie,
who passed away on Wednesday, January 9th following a long-standing
battle with leukemia. Many of you who came into contact with him will
have been impressed by his in-depth understanding of his subject,
by his interesting research talks, and by his sense of humour.
Tony wrote the first book on Haskell, "An Introduction to Functional
Programming Systems using Haskell", worked on functional persistent systems,
and designed the CASE abstract machine, as well as being a major contributor
to early SASL implementations here at St Andrews. In many ways, he was
a true functional programming pioneer.
I am sure you will back my action in expressing the condolences of the
entire international community to Tony's family.
whose favourite language was lazy.
He worked with persistence,
and humorous insistence
on limericks driving you crazy.
