I am making this posting to inform all of you about the loss of Al Garber this past Friday. Al worked in the Customer Training Department as a Course Developer at Grass Valley Group.

Unless you are an EIC or Maintenance person, you may not have dealt directly with Al...he taught some of the Engineering courses at GV. Al also taught the on-line Web classes for Networking. However, if you have ever received a factory course on almost any GV product, be it Maintenance or Operational, then you have been exposed to Al's handiwork. Al was one of the individuals who was instrumental in adapting Microsoft PowerPoint into a teaching tool for class presentations and handouts. Rather than exclusively using photographs as teaching aids, Al re-created components and products through graphic shapes & shading - this allowed the easy update of material as products were modified. Al also helped other instructors to develop a cohesive course presentation - Al taught me how to use PowerPoint as a teaching tool, and I still use his principles in my courses today. Al & Lew Dobbins formed the core of the Product Course Development at GV. Regardless of what GV product you may have learned on or who actually did the teaching, if you have received factory-authorized training documentation, then you have benefitted from Al's work.

I wanted to wait to post this information until after the news about Al's passing could get to the members of GVG through official channels. I am not posting this to elicit any responses - Al was not the type of person who sought accolades or recognition. However I did not want the passing of someone who has had such a crucial role in helping the rest of us learn our craft to go by unnoticed.