I was asked to share a few memories of Jim Weirich as someone prepared for a conference talk about him, so I figured I'd share what came to mind here:
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My cofounder Todd Kaufman would often refer to Jim as the "Santa Claus of the Ruby community". He was a big, jolly guy and he always brought joy to every room he was in. If people take away one thing to know about Jim, it's that even when he had 30 years of experience on someone, he always treated them with tremendous deference and respect. He always approached my ideas and questions as if they were urgent and fascinating, even if he'd encountered them dozens of times before. It's a trait I strive to imitate whenever I meet people at a user group or a conference, because it made such an impact on me when someone that I looked up to treated me like my experiences mattered to them.
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I would sometimes drive 2 hours from Columbus to Cincinnati just to hang out at Jim's office. No matter what client work he had to do, he was never too busy for me. I remember