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Software's Sublimation by Alex Goldman (bio)

Data's diffusion throughout business and into the cloud



RIP: Nicholas Givotovsky, marketer and intellect, at 44

By Alex Goldman on July 8, 2009 12:36 PM

Consultant Nicholas Givotovsky died this week, aged 44, from an accident involving a lawn mower. He is survived by his wife and two children.

givotovsky_card.jpgI met Nicholas Givotovsky at David Isenberg's Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference and through Isabel Walcott, a consultant who helped F2C generate publicity and helped Givotovsky network.

I last spoke to him two or three weeks ago. He was enthusiastic about a nascent project to help deliver a secure online identity to Internet users.

It's a concern he's always had. Today, looking for his Internet footprint, I found a poem reprinted in the blog of Steve Larsen and written in 1996. Called "Webmasters -- We Market Mindshare", the poem's last line is a warning: "we'll be able to bar code your soul."

Given these concerns about marketing, Givotovski became involved in the VRM project whose most famous name is Doc Searls.

In a memorial blog post today, Searls wrote, "We became friends -- or as close as people get when they're mutually engaged in a number of projects, and enjoy each other's company, as well as each other's minds and hearts. I called him 'Nicky G.'"

"Alas, Nick died wrong. And way too young. He was just 44. He leaves his wife and two kids. Plus many shocked and saddened friends," Searls concluded.

"Nick was an incredibly nice, understanding and deeply feeling person who had a way of letting you know he really cared about you every time you conversed with him. That's really rare in business and even in friendship, and I'm sure he will be universally missed," wrote Walcott in an e-mail to InternetNews.com.

From London, VRM entrepreneur Iain Henderson wrote, "I first met Nick, along with Mark Lizar, over many beers, in the Sun in Splendour pub in Notting Hill -- a few years back. His views were very aligned with mine -- and since then every contribution he has made to the Identity and VRM discussions has been rich and perceptive."

Searls posted an apt photo of him to flickr. Here in the office, I wrote "RIP" on his business card and posted it on my cubicle. I feel sad.

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3 Comments

arthur Einstein said:

thanks for this post and memorial

July 10, 2009 5:35 PM
Gary Thompson said:

I am sitting here just stunned... I discovered this news yesterday and am still trying to digest just what a light has been lost in this tragedy.

The nascent project mentioned by Alex in paragraph 3 is CLOUD, Inc., and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Nicholas a year ago at the Personal Democracy Forum in June of 2008. We had stayed in touch and were deeply aware of our shared vision for the individual. We had iChatted on July 2 to arrange a call following July 4th weekend with CLOUD's CTO. Nicholas was to be CLOUD's CIO, Chief Identity Officer.

Although we had met physically, most of our relationship since last year was digital and virtual, but we were planning a meeting up in the northeast to get more serious about CLOUD. When he didn't dial in, my CTO and I chalked it up to crazy summertime schedules. And, then I started traveling. Having not seen Nicholas up on iChat for a while, though, I decided to google yesterday and found the story of his passing...

I appreciate being able to share this story via this post. It is therapeutic to be able to type these words, because as I read what others have said about this man, I realize the world has lost a light. His wife and children are in my prayers.

We must all remember that there may not be a tomorrow. Whatever moves our work and our lives, we must remember that our connections to each other are to be cherished. I will continue my work and dedication to the power of people... connected... in NG's memory.

August 27, 2009 3:01 PM

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