J.D. (Jesse David) Falk
May 24, 1974 - Nov 16, 2011
With great sadness, we share the news of the passing of a cherished friend and truly noble soul, J.D. Falk. J.D. was a founding member of the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) and a deeply passionate and creative individual. Although J.D. was still a young man when he left us, he lived at Internet speed: J.D. seemed to be everywhere and involved in any project that could make messaging and the Internet a better place; indeed, that would make the world a better place.
His accomplishments in MAAWG were many: chairman of the technical committee; chairman of the program committee; chief document editor; member of the Board of Directors. For many years, J.D. almost single-handedly developed the agendas for our general meetings. Reflecting his deeply felt commitment to new ideas and fresh perspectives, J.D. constantly sought to elevate the quality of the speakers and panels, to make the discussions more interesting, the presentations more useful, the meetings more productive.
When he saw something that could be made better, J.D. took action. He created the role of MAAWG document editor to help the MAAWG membership produce best practices and white papers of lasting significance. He stepped in wherever help was needed and saw that the job was done and done well.
He was no less diligent with himself and was responsible for the development of several feedback loop RFCs in process at the IETF. In the spirit of the Internet that J.D. loved, a RFC editor worked through the night recently to finalize J.D.’s paper based on the MAAWG best practices so that it could be published as RFC 6449 during the last few days of his life. There are also three other drafts he authored working their way through the IEFT Messaging Abuse Reporting Format Working Group on their way to becoming RFCs, including work on BCP applicability, MARF data redaction recommendations and feedback loop discovery.
J.D. was an eclectic and caring individualist. He worked tirelessly to nurture students through a number of organizations and helped organize a KIVA team to extend micro loans promoting entrepreneurism in the underserved populations of the world. https://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/11/anti-spam-activist-jd-falk-die.php
J.D. was devoted to his wife Hope, to his friends and to his community. We follow in the footsteps of a truly noble soul and are dedicated to advancing together in celebration of his life.
Other memorials:
J.D. Falk Memorial (no longer in place)
CAUCE Memorial
CircleID
ReadWrite
ReturnPath Memorial
San Jose Mercury News Obituary