Preserving our memories Guy Labonte.
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Guy was a very smart and
creative individual whose life was cut short by a car accident in 1998. Remembering Guy Labonte More Stories of Guy Labonte Contact Talk about Guy. Send stories. Every year, people contact me and let me know they also have good memories of Guy Labonte, that they miss him, and that they are glad that other people remember Guy. |
 Guy Labonte, BSE CSE, Penn Engineering Class of 1997. |
All my own memories of Guy are from the University of Pennsylvania, where we were both students from 1993 to 1997. Guy seemed more interested in friends and fun than grades and recognition, but anybody working with him would soon be amazed at his abilities. Guy always seemed to have creative and correct solutions to problems. His work ranged from a cryptographic file system to 3d graphics and AI. I'm sure he was good at all of them.
The Computer Science Dept. at Penn started an award: Guy Labonte Memorial Award for a Computer Graphics Senior Project. It was created by The Center for Human Modeling and Simulation at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Guy Labonte Memorial Award for Creativity And Intelligence in Computer Science., was an award which I stopped only because there was not enough participation, and Penn started it's own award. You can see the old award page.
Please do not offer to contribute money to this award. His family has asked that donations be given in his name to Phillips Exeter Academy, so that they may provide more scholarships.
Stories of Guy Labonte
When Guy took CSE 350 he was selected out from the group to work on a slightly different project by the TA because his first assignment was so far ahead of the group. He made an encryption program, like the assignment said to do, but his had a Tickle/TK GUI interface! I was picked too, because I tried to make my own encryption algorithm.
We worked together all semester on an authentication file system. It was hard to keep up with his learning curve. In some ways I feel like he already knew how to do everything.
For the CSE 391 final project we had to build a planner that would act as an agent to figure out how to accomplish a goal in a small 5-10 room environment. His project had 2 Agents: Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Wile E. Coyote's goal was to catch the Road Runner, which had a goal of not being caught. Aside from the creativity of the concept alone, the project seemed to work better than many of the others. It may not have been the best project, but it was the most interesting by far, and the only one I remember.
These are just a few of the stories
I remember.
- David J Whalen-Robinson (davidrn@pobox.com)
More comments and memories
"We both know what a great person and friend he was
and how much talent he posessed. I just wanted to let
you know how nice it is to read how he touched others
and how great his memory is being lived on at Penn."
"He wasn't only academically brilliant. He was a
really really supportive and caring friend and there
isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish he were
still here with us. I don't know if you were at the
memorial but the church was packed and we were
surrounded by pictures...and wonderful stories of his
life."
"We associated with OpenWorlds regretfully announce the untimely passing of
a former member of our team, Guy Labonte, from a car accident over the holiday weekend.
Guy played a significant part in the design and early creation of OpenWorlds
even while he was still in school at UPenn. He was a gifted person with an
exceptional mind, far beyond his 23 years. More importantly, he was one of
the nicest people anyone could hope to meet. He cared about people,
shared with us his enthusiasm and zest for life, and was a truly inspirational person.
Guy was the kind of person who touched everyone he met.
We are all shocked and deeply saddened by this loss and express our sympathies to
his family. We were expecting to release our 1.1 browser and loader this week,
but this will be slightly delayed due to these circumstances.
We regret any inconvenience. When 1.1 is released, we will be donating a
percentage of the OpenWorlds sales over the next year to a charity for head trauma research.
-The OpenWorlds Team
Dr. Paul J. Diefenbach :: mailto:paul@drawcomp.com
DRaW Computing Associates, Inc. :: http://www.drawcomp.com
OpenWorlds VRML C++ toolkit :: http://www.openworlds.com "
A search of the net reveals that Guy labonte also posted transcribed guitar
music online. I did not even know he was a guitar player, but the fact
he was good at that too is not shocking to me at all.
Contact:
This site is maintained by:
David Whalen-Robinson
davidrn@pobox.com
Penn CSE Class of 1997