Sticky A Sad Day

[ch1z64]

Very sorry to hear the sad news that Jack has passed away , i can safely say i used to chuckle at some off his posts but found him a joy .
RIP Jack from across the pond

 

[DneprDave]

Uwe's bar is much quieter without Jack's always interesting posts. I miss him.

 

[TFSI]

It pains me to announce that one of our most prolific and valued members has passed away today.

@Jack@European_Parts has succumbed to complications of COVID on this 11th day of April, 2021.

I have known Jack since before Ross-Tech existed. He was always character. Some people did not care for his methods, which largely involved trying to teach people to fish rather than handing out fish, but the reality is, he was always trying to help everyone in his own unique way.

Jack will be missed here.



-Uwe-

I am probably the last person to hear this sad new today. I had recently been observing no shows from Jack as usual on the forum so I went on google looking for him and lo and behold found this thread. Sad sad sad indeed!! He was indeed a great character, death has stolen one of our great friends. May he rest in peace.

 

[jyoung8607]

Back before I stopped worrying and learned to love my CEL, he helped me make progress on troubleshooting my Phaeton W12. I had reached a point where I was ready to park it in a bad part of town and set it on fire, and he talked me down. He said something to me, over the phone, that resonated with me and I remember to this day: "You can figure it out. It's just a machine."

I don't know why that broke me out of my loop, but it did. It worked on the part of my brain that had decided I was defeated, that it was an intractable frustrating unsolvable mystery of the universe, and moved it back into the domain of things that could be analyzed, tested, potentially solved. I don't know how to explain it better than that. I have worked on other problems years later, things entirely unrelated to automobile engines at all, and sometimes heard that voice again: "You can figure it out. It's just a machine."

Don't know if you get notified of forum tags wherever you are @Jack@European_Parts, but my brother in 2006 Phaeton W12 ownership @PowerDubs needed those words you gave me tonight and he needs some JPPSG spirit. Miss you buddy, thinking of you. Point us in the right direction if you can.

 

[Drob]

I don't post on any of the forums much, including this one, and when I don't, It's because either Jack or UWE has already solved and posted the answer.

I haven't read the bulk of forums for quite a while because that help has kept me running smoothly for nearing 320,000 miles. While searching for a trouble code today, I ran across one of Jack's threads and noticed the "gone but not forgotten" tag and did some searching.

I never met you. I never talked on the phone with you, and I'd have to look, but I'm not even sure I directly asked you any questions on the forums. But the reason I'm learning about this over a year later is absolutely because of what you taught me and the unasked questions you answered-- I haven't needed to be here because you were just that good. I've never been so gutted at the news of the passing of a stranger. This has very much taken the wind from my sails, but I'm going fix this thing anyway.

It's just a machine. I'll figure it out.

 

[jyoung8607]

Jack was holding out on us! Never knew he owned this beauty. I'm not sure where it's at currently.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Golf_R/comments/z16lqa

 

[Uwe]

Never knew he owned this beauty.

IIRC, he had two of them. A red one that he drove and modified some, and the blue one, which he kept "as new".

-Uwe-

 

[Sniper]

My condolences.

 

[vreihen]

IIRC, he had two of them. A red one that he drove and modified some, and the blue one, which he kept "as new".

In case anyone is interested, the current bid on the blue one (97 miles on the odometer) is up to $75K on Bring a Trailer auction:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2004-volkswagen-r32-155/

I have nothing to do with the car or sale, other than getting a heads-up message about the auction from the current owner who was also a local friend of Jack's.

Lurk mode re-engaged.....

 

[Horch_AUDI]

Good day everyone, aw man just saw this thread today about Jack... may he rest in peace. I was wondering why he suddenly doesn't reply any more in this forum, I thought he was just upset and left or something like that...

I remebered him because I was just thinking about the electrical issues that cars have due to bad grounds. First thing he replied to me when I exposed my problem (electrically related) is he advised to add grounds to my car. Well, almost 10 years later and having dealt with many cars (dozens of them being old) I absolutely agree with that. Even the smallest problem can be caused by bad grounds, like when your tail lights ligh up all the bulbs when you use your blinkers =D

Ever since, when I see a car with bad grounding problems I always remeber Jack.

 

[GaryM]

Oh man. This is really sad news I've not frequented or posted on this forum for many years and I came here looking for some answers to a problem. In the process I stumbled upon some of Jack's old posts and it made me wonder what he was up to. I couldn't find any new posts from him that were after early 2021, and then I noticed the caption "Gone But Not Forgotten" under his username which immediately sent a chill down my spine. My worst fears then came true when I found this thread

I always loved reading Jack's posts. He was straight to the point with solutions to problems and he never minced his words. I hope he's still continuing to read these posts from the other side some 3.5 years after he left this world far too soon.

Rest in peace Jack. What a legend you were. You will always be remembered and forever be missed.

 

[D DOYLE]

RIP Jack