Robert Snively Obituary

Robert Snively July 24, 1942 - Jan. 17, 2009 Although he intended to die in a rock climbing accident at age 104, cancer claimed Bob at age 66. He enjoyed 39 years of marriage to Sandy. His wife, 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren cherish his daily devotion to family. His life serves as an example and an inspiration. After his BS/MS in electrical engineering at Stanford, he joined Peace Corps for 2 years in Chile, teaching at the University of Santiago and climbing mountains. He was an engineer at IBM, STC-CRC, Adaptec, and SUN before his last 8 years at Brocade Communications. He helped define the pathway of information storage protocols and technology, from the inception of SCSI to the development and expansion of Fibre Channel. As the chair of multiple technical committees and head of the US Delegation to ISO/IEC subcommittees, he defined rational interfaces to shape the future of storage connections. A backyard farmer, he spent long hours tending his trees and vines. He loved the outdoors; hiking (preferably above the tree line), sailing and traveling. His concern for sustainability and conservation guided his daily actions. No flowers please, donations to Ashoka.org, eesi.org, or friendsmhlibrary.org. A celebration of his life will be held in Bob's orchard on Sunday, April 5. RSVP to [email protected].

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by San Jose Mercury News on Jan. 20, 2009.

Memories and Condolences
for Robert Snively

13 Entries

Abe Hashemi

March 14, 2009

I developed great respect for Bob?s talent, intelligence, and integrity while watching him artfully perform what was best for his beloved industry and often despite conflicting requirement from everyone including his bureaucratic superiors. It took a lot of personal sacrifice on his part to do so. I was delighted to hear him voted as one of the top three architects of SCSI on its twentieth anniversary. However, I am truly saddened at the news of his passing so soon. His lasting contributions will continue enhancing life on earth. That is the true meaning of spirit for me. He is one of my eternals.

Deborah Cooper

February 27, 2009

When I was a teenager, Bob stayed with us with Sandy while my parents were away. It's funny to look back and realize he was merely 12 years older than me. I remember that time fondly, as he took me to see the movie "Woodstock". I guess looking back I did trust him - but then, he was under 30. Bob served as kind of a diplomat between myself and my parents, and oh my...did we need a diplomat! I am grateful for his humor and loving presence. What is remembered, lives! You will be remembered, Bob.

Robert Sohigian

February 4, 2009

Bob was my IEEE sponsor many years ago at Sun before I made the transition from technical writer to engineer. I was tasked with taking very complex ideas and documenting them in a simple fashion. Bob spent a lot of time at the whiteboard with me breaking down his work into easy-to-understand chunks.

He was not only a brilliant engineer, but also gifted communicator and educator.

I am so saddened by his passing.

Cindy

January 28, 2009

Thank you Bob, for your friendship, warmth and wisdom.

Bob and I worked together at Sun in Menlo Park, and he was always so kind and helpful to me and everyone for that matter. I can vividly remember the days after work when you would teach me to drive my first car, a used Honda Accord with stick shift. And, then there were many days of me sitting in your office learning about SCSI and protocol stuff.. That was only my second job out of college, and Bob, you were my friend, mentor and role model.

I truly regret not keeping in touch with you over the years.

Sandy, my deepest condolences.

Rob Snevely

January 22, 2009

I worked off and on with Bob for many years at Sun, and it was a pleasure and privilege.

The similarities in our names (Bob Snively and Rob Snevely) always caused confusion, in that Marx Bros, absurdest sort of way. I remember the first time I met Bob, back in early 1991. They had delivered 6 disk drives to his office. (Doesn't sound like a big deal until you remember that drives back then were 19 inches wide, nearly 3 feet deep, and about 18 inches tall and weighed in at over 70lbs a piece) and there he was with 5 of them stacked up in his office wondering why they were there. When he and I finally figured out they were meant for me, in a different building all together, we both agreed this was going to be interesting.

It got even better when they moved us to the same campus, in the same building, on the same floor, literally across the hall from each other. We were going through receptionists rather quickly in those days. I recall not even saying anything to each other and just meeting in the hall when an email would show up announcing a new receptionist. We would just walk together down there and each of us would introduce the other. It probably doesn't sound that funny when written down, but, it was a piece of absurdest theater that Eugène Ionesco would have been proud of.

I will always remember Bob as a great person with a great sense of fun, that could always see the lighter side of a situation.

He will be missed & remembered.

Rob

Mark Willey

January 22, 2009

I've had the great pleasure of working with Bob for ~5 years.

His vision, knowledge and enthusiasm will be sorely missed by all who knew him, and I will personally miss his great sense of humor and 'cando' spirit......

Sandy and family - Please accept my sincere condolences.

Karen Smith

January 21, 2009

Sandy & Family, I'm so sorry to hear this. I've worked with Bob at Brocade for about two years on the T11 meetings and throughout the year. He was a kind and gentle man, always willing to talk about his many family adventures and photos on his desk. He will be missed and well remembered.

Jerry Tyner

January 21, 2009

Great men leave great and lasting legacies and Bob was one of the good and great. He will be missed. God bless his family!

Ali Ghiasi

January 21, 2009

Sandra and the family Bob physically is no longer among us but his legacy will be with us for years to come.

I met Bob for the first time in 1994 in his quest to find commodity 1/4 speed FC optical module for the first serial attach storage array at Sun Microsystem.

Bob effort eventually help establish FC as the storage networking fabric (now known as SAN), FC I/O was extended all the way to the disk drives. The key to the success of FC SAN was borrowing low cost short wavelength CD lasers for communication applications. Bob always said optical module should not cost more than a grain of rice, over these years cost of optical modules have gone down by more than 100 folds.

First and at most Bob was a friend and a mentor. I worked with Bob at professional level while both of us were at Sun Microsystems, jointedly started
XFP MSA, and worked together in FC standards for over a decade.

Bob loss as a friend and a visionary will be felt for years to come.

Arlen Young

January 20, 2009

I met Bob after I had joined Adaptec, and our paths crossed from time to time after he left the company. I'll never forget one evening in 2001 when three of us were honored by the SCSI Trade Association as significant contributors to SCSI architecture. Bob was an obvious choice for the award, and I was truly honored to share the recognition with him. He was one of the greats in the industry. I am very sad to hear of his passing.

David Deming

January 20, 2009

Sandra and Family, It was an honor and privilege to know Bob for all these years. Being one of his T11 buddies, his measured calmness and professionalism has been an inspiration to me and I am saddened for your loss. May you find comfort in knowing that Bob was loved and respected by all his peers, which I'm sure is no surprise to you, and his memory will be honored by us all. Peace and Love,

Larry Chen

January 20, 2009

May God bless you and your family in this time of sorrow.

Ed Cady

January 20, 2009

We all loved Bob so much because he was very generous, thoughtful and brought the best out of each of us. He has been a leader's leader for many of us in the industry. I will miss my fellow Leo with his JanSport backpack. I meet Bob decades ago wearing my JanSport backpack at an early SCSI meeting and since then we have always talked a lot about our hiking adventures. We use to joke about how we were the only ones wearing JanSport backpacks to various meetings around the world and were always ready to take a hike in between meetings. Bob helped us to feel like family even when we traveled so much away from our families. Bob's handshake was one of the best I ever received and I so enjoyed his humorous comments and smile. Bob has always been the best of the best.

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