Farewell to Oier Echaniz Beneitez

[M.-A. Lemburg]

We received the very sad news today, that Oier Echaniz Beneitez has
passed away, after a long-term illness (not as a result of COVID-19):

https://www.europython-society.org/post/615744838396215296/farewell-to-oier-echaniz-beneitez

Oier was one of the initiators for bringing EuroPython to Bilbao in
2015 and co-chaired the conference in both 2015 and 2016, together
with Fabio.

    Oier giving the EuroPython 2015 welcome speech together with Fabio
    Pliger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrLKOEhnb7w

He was one of the most enthusiastic and engaged organizers of the
conference, served on the EuroPython Society board from 2015 - 2017
and founded and chaired the local Python organization in San Sebastian
(PySS, pronounced “peace”). Oier also started the pyjok.es project,
together with Alexandre Savio and Ben Nuttall, inaugurating the first
Python Jokes-as-a-Service of its kind.

    https://pyjok.es/

His humour and friendly approach to everything, even when things
turned bad on him, were inspiring and created a great atmosphere for
everyone who worked with him. Oier’s love for pyntxos was famous and
I’m sure all of you who attended the EuroPython conferences in Bilbao
will never forget.

    https://ep2015.europython.eu/en/events/social-event/

“Oier was an exceptionally funny guy with a wonderful sense of
humour. He was kind, caring and considerate, and worked hard for PySS
and EuroPython. I have fond, happy memories of any time I spent with
him and know he’ll be greatly missed.” — Ben Nuttall

“Oier put so much enthusiasm in everything we did, in our first quests
together and then doing all the activities of ACPySS. He was not only
an active member of the Python community but also very involved in the
local cancer research and care community. We knew his end was going to
come sooner rather than later, and these last 2 years have been quite
harsh on him. His amazing will to live was what kept him going for so
long and we are sure that the Python community motivated him to keep
on. Rest in PySS, my friend.” — Alexandre Savio


		 * Our good friend: We’ll miss you! *

	  May the good vibes and pyntxos always be with you.


Thank you for all the good times,
--
Your friends from the EuroPython community