A Giant Falls

On Sunday, a giant in my field of work passed away.  His name was Ken Henderson.  I have spoken to Ken one-on-one only twice and heard him lecture once, so I can't count his passing as a personal loss.

But for my profession and my company, his loss is as big a loss as I could imagine.  Ken was the guru of Microsoft SQL Server.  He wrote the Guru's Guide to Microsoft SQL Server Architecture and Internals, a bible in our industry.  There are very few people who know the inner workings of SQL Server as well as Ken.  Fewer still shared what they knew as well.

Many people who have worked with Microsoft SQL Support on a database problem have used the PSSdiag utility to gather data to help solve the problem.  PSSDiag proved so useful that it was built into the current version of SQL Server as SQLDiag.  PSSDiag was Ken's baby.  It has saved our customers countless hours of troubleshooting time over the years.

So where am I going with this?  It is a loss for everyone when someone as brilliant, talented and dedicated as Ken is struck down in his prime.  He is one of those folks who most never hear of, but help so many.  Every profession has unsung heroes like Ken.  He was a giant.  I think he deserves a little extra thought and recognition, so its here in this post. 

Thanks, Ken.