Memphis suffered a significant loss over the weekend. I was shocked when I heard that Dave Barger, one of the biggest technological innovators in Memphis, passed away. I’ve only recently had the honor of making the acquaintance of Dave Barger, but the few opportunities we had together were memorable.

A few months back, Dave reached out to me in search of a freelance writer to help with the workload at LunaWeb. Well aware of Dave’s success, I saw working with him as a great opportunity to learn from an expert in his field.

Our first interaction was when he invited me to a panel discussion and networking luncheon hosted by the Greater Memphis IT Council. While most of the information discussed during the topic of “Big Data & Analytics: The Big Impact on IT” was completely over my head, I learned a lot. More than anything, I learned how important Dave was to Memphis IT. From Comcast network specialist to IT management from Federal Express, Dave bounced from person to person engaging with everyone in the room. While we did not get to spend much time conversing, I sat back and watched in awe as he worked the room with his friendly and outgoing attitude.

A week later I met with Dave in his offices to bid on some projects and, even though he was one of those guys that had forgotten more than I’ll ever know, he was genuinely interested in my thoughts and opinions.

While Dave was well-known as the man behind LunaWeb, he had many passions that he helped spearhead. Greater Memphis IT Council, Interactive Expedition, GEEKmemphis, and LaunchMemphis, are just a few of Dave’s ventures to improve and generate IT awareness in Memphis.

As one would expect, the entire Memphis tech community is devastated with the lost of Dave Barger. My prayers are with Dave’s family and the LunaWeb staff.