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In lieu of a wake, let me tell a funny story about Simon. He flew out to San Rafael while we were both working at Greenplum, for us to work together to implement Greenplum's resource management system. He'd never spent much time in the US before, and had never been to a chain restaurant before.

San Rafael being what it is, our first night there the partners took us out to a CA chain restaurant that pretended to be a French bistro ... (1)

... but, being a CA chain, had a tequila bar, which was Simon's first taste of tequila (IIRC, he didn't like it). More, the servings were HUGE as is usually the case at these US chains; Simon's steak frites was probably 11oz of beef with a quart basket of fries. Simon ate barely 1/3 of it.

Now, to understand what happened next, know that in British English the word "box" is also slang for a woman's genitals ... (2)

... and the British, as a rule, don't do to-go portions from a restaurant.

So, when it was clear he wasn't eating anymore, the petite, attractively dressed woman server came over to him and asked "Do you want to put it in a box?"

"DO I WANT A WHAT?!?!!?" roared Simon.

The server yelped, dropped the plates on the table, and fled.

We explained things to Simon, made our apologies (and a big tip) the server ... (3)

... After that, "box" became a standing joke at Greenplum; whenever the onsite meetings bogged down, someone would remark "maybe we should put it in a box."

Greenplum's initial SW/HW product offering was nicknamed "Big data in a box".

So, if you knew Simon, tonight raise a shot glass of tequila to him and toast one of Postgres' most brilliant developers ... and one who knew how to find the humor in surprises. (4/fin)