It’s been ten years since James Jessiman died

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Wow, has it been that long? Flash back to the summer in-between my junior and senior year of high school. The memories are coming back to me now. I read the news on our email list on July 27, 1997–two days after he died of flu complications near his home in NSW, Australia. I had never met James face-to-face, but I had traded a bunch of email with him. I loved using the program he wrote called LDraw, it let me build LEGO models on my computer in 3D and share them with others. It was a DOS program and at first I was quite confused, so he walked me through using it over email.

This was the first time someone I knew only on the Internet had died. I was amazed at the sadness and emptiness I felt, even though to me, James was really just a series of emails and a program. What amazed me more was his death impacted all of my online friends–and at that point I hadn’t met any of them yet either. A memorial sprung up. LDraw users picked up where James left off, writing new parts and coordinating “official” community updates. They kept his passion for LEGO and computers alive through our “L-CAD” list.

One of my most treasured LDraw experiences over the last ten years was the brief opportunity to meet James’ parents, Don & Robyn, in 2001. I invited them to the second annual BrickFest in DC as a gesture, a courtesy even, not thinking they’d fly all the way here from Australia. They leapt at the chance.

Over the 2-3 days we spent together at the convention, they told me stories about their son and the remarkable things he did while he was alive. Never selfish, always helping other people, and passionate about computers and kids. James dropped out of his first year of college and soon after he taught senior-level courses. He was simple and humble, he loved his family and he loved to be a servant. He ran a small computer business and wrote LDraw as a hobby. Don & Robyn were sure proud of him, and they were delighted that we loved using and furthering James’ work, even if it was just his hobby.

Just a few weeks ago, I had the honor of presenting the 2006 James Jessiman Memorial Award at BrickWorld here in Chicago. The award is a way the LDraw community recognizes people who make outstanding contributions to the LDraw system and advance James’ original work. While it has been a decade since James passed, I like that we pause and remember where our system came from by acknowledging James and his original work. When you look out today at the LEGO hobby, there’s hardly a corner LDraw hasn’t touched. It’s fundamentally shaped how people communicate, trade, and share ideas online about the brick. That’s something I wish James could be here to see.