Graham Davies R.I.P

I was genuinely shocked and saddened at the news this morning that Graham Davies, founder of Eurocall, ICT guru and omnipresent voice in the global languages community had unexpectedly lost his fight with long term illness. His encyclopaedic knowledge of computer assisted language learning was second to none and his willingness to share his expertise via a myriad of online media was greatly appreciated by many he connected with over the years. Graham's dedicated altruism and honesty touched colleagues from all over the world and his legacy speaks for itself

Throughout my teaching career and beyond, Graham Davies has been there, contributing to debate, challenging opinions and giving support. I contacted him many times asking for advice on a range of issues and he always helped and encouraged me. I know he did the same for many others too.

I was lucky enough to meet Graham in person four times, at a Japanese Conference at Oxford Brookes in 2007, The Language Show 2007, Eurocall 2011 and finally at the Digital Kitchen event at the Institut Français last October where he gave a talk on the history of CALL and we had lunch together with his colleague and friend Scott Windeatt. He was a kind, warm and approachable man with a great sense of humour and an affable nature.

A life 'post Graham' is hard to imagine such has been his contribution. My thoughts and best wishes go to his family and friends at this difficult time. If you would like to pay your respects, The Association for Language Learning has set up a tribute section to Graham on their Facebook page where you can leave comments. Alternatively you may like to add your thoughts to this TES thread I started this morning after hearing the terrible news.

Rest in Peace GroovyWinkler, GroovyGuzi, DaisyBundle ... Graham. Your unique voice, understanding and generosity will be sorely missed.

Joe

Comments

[Jude]

Very sad news. Graham was the grandfather type of the TES MFL forum, always so encouraging and wise. Rest in Peace, Wise One. :-( x

[Heike Philp]

Hi,
Please allow me to share the blog about the celebration of Graham's life.
http://avalon-project.ning.com/profiles/blogs/celebration-of-graham-davies-life
rgds Heike

[Samantha]

Joe, I am so sorry for not just your loss but for everyone's loss of Graham. I never got the pleasure of meeting with him or talking to him, but he sounds like a great man. It is obvious he and his work will be missed.