04/24/04

To the Shenker family,

Please allow me to extend my deepest sympathy in the loss of Omer. As a student at William and Mary, I had the privilege of knowing Omer as a friend. Although we were only a few months apart in age, he was working as a lab consultant and I was a burgeoning Computer Science major, learning my way around the subject in the lab, when we got to know each other freshman year. He introduced me to SIN [Student Information Network], which I joined (and invited fellow classmate Mike Weissberger to join) the following year, and shared many memorable conversations ranging from God to depression to assembly languages during the time he was at the College. I always appreciated his unreserved willingness to help in both hardware (he installed Linux on my computer) and programming (we were both project graders in an undergraduate Computer Science course, and he’d always be willing to answer any questions I had), and I never ceased to be amazed at the depth, breadth, and ingenuity of his intellect as I’ve gotten to know him these past three years. His friendship will be deeply missed and long remembered.

As I was browsing through my files on my computer, I happened across something I had written (since I enjoy composing poems) for and send to Omer over instant messenger last year, when he was having a harder time sleeping than usual. It is most definitely no literary masterpiece, but I thought I’d enclose a copy here in case you would like to read it. The title was a topic of conversation; I had used it as an away message without realizing that Omer was very familiar with the Shakespearean passage from which it was drawn (as he pointed out later by quoting the soliloquy quite nearly in full!).

His loss continues to be mourned by his friends on campus. We still mention and remember him here, and we hold dearly to the memories that remain. I hope and pray that comfort may be yours during this time.

sincerely,

anne huang