: Thanks for that informative piece on Derek. Some of us here spoke to him via the telephone and through these forums,but knew little more about him than from his kind advice,obviously now we all know alittle more about a man that is sorely missed already. Thanks for sharing some of your personnel memories.
Bryan

It was terribly sad news to learn that Mr.
: Derek Ziglar passed away at his home in
: Santa Fe, New Mexico, last month.

: Our enormous and heartfelt sympathies and
: prayers go out to Derek’s widow, Stella, his
: mother and father, Jim and Martha, and to
: the rest of his family and many friends.

: Derek’s great intellect, wit and thoughtfulness
: will be sorely missed – Derek will be
: missed. He truly made a difference.

: Several folks who knew Derek primarily from his
: online work with the chronographic community
: asked what Derek was like in person. These
: are memories of a friend from Atlanta from
: years ago…

: Derek was extremely serious, extremely quiet
: and extremely intelligent. In many ways, he
: was Mr. Spock – and he was truly his
: parent’s son. Derek’s father Jim was a
: career public relations representative for a
: Fortune 1000 company – who quietly
: cultivated magnificent, hybrid orchids in a
: backyard greenhouse. After meeting Derek’s
: mother, Martha, I later worked with her at
: the metropolitan-Atlanta nonprofit senior
: housing ministry where I was to spend my
: second career. It was sponsored by their
: family church. His parental roots were
: always apparent: he was a thoughtful,
: methodical learner and instructor. He tended
: gardens well – both his own, and those of
: other’s.

: Derek was my brother Eric's best friend for
: many years while they went through high
: school and college together. From my
: earliest visits to Atlanta, long before I
: moved here – they were inseparable friends.
: Eric taught Derek to swim and Derek taught
: Eric geometry. When Derek and Eric were
: still in high school, they had already
: befriended faculty at the Georgia Tech
: computer center - where they spent their
: free evenings. They studied hard and rode
: bikes hard, played endless hours of video
: games long before anybody else had heard of
: video games, learned how to date girls
: together and played harmless practical jokes
: on each other. They were good kids; the kind
: of guys that parents were proud to have as
: teenage sons: they were smart and polite and
: just the right amount of irreverent. Derek
: was an extension of my parent's household,
: and Eric was the Ziglar's second son. They
: were more brothers than Eric and I.

: Derek and Eric introduced me to the costumed
: midnight-spectacle of the Rocky Horror
: Picture Show – and to the earliest personal
: computers, the Vic 20 and Commodore 64. I
: began to learn a new language:
: computer-speak. Derek was my first
: super-expert: if you needed to buy or do or
: understand anything that Derek had ever
: investigated, you need look no further - his
: word was the word. Later, when other folks
: regarded me as their super-expert, it always
: made me smile: everything was relative... I
: knew the real super-expert.

: He was a kind and gentle super-expert. While he
: aggressively learned everything he could
: about any topic of interest, he was equally
: enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge and
: resources – and he was a good teacher.
: Anyone who needed to learn what Derek had to
: share was fortunate to benefit from his
: knowledge, wisdom, patience and humor.

: Derek was always on the leading edge of
: technology, but the conservative leading
: edge. He believed in quality over risky
: savings: he bought IBM when I shopped
: generic at Crazy Bob's Computer Warehouse,
: and his audio, television and video
: equipment was always Sony (Beta video, of
: course) – but the piece of equipment he
: treasured most was an old, monophonic
: McIntosh tube amplifier that lived at Sweet
: Home.

: Sweet Home was his other side - his parent's
: summer home in the beautiful north Georgia
: mountains. I was always grateful when Derek
: invited me to join them – for the time
: together and for the quietude. The
: surrounding countryside ranges from three to
: forty-five hundred feet and secrets dozens
: of spectacular water falls in the piney
: woods. The head of the Appalachian Trail is
: nearby. Occasionally, black bears would
: lumber in to scout the fragrant apple
: orchards, or you might wake to find a
: scorpion had set up housekeeping in your
: shoe…

: I almost forgot Star Trek. Star Trek and Star
: Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: The
: Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager and
: Star Trek: Generations. Star Trek, Star
: Trek, Star Trek. No more need be said.

: Several years ago, Kristy (my wife) and I
: attended a costume Halloween party thrown by
: a speed-skater acquaintance and his wife,
: Candy – whom I had not met. As we entered
: the house, we met a bright, charming
: magazine writer named Anya and were
: captivated for an hour of delightful
: conversation. She invited us to her home for
: a party the following night. My father was
: visiting, and we asked if we could bring him
: along. Halfway through Anya’s party, my
: father came over and asked, “Have you put it
: together yet? – Who they are… Candy and
: Anya?”

: Oh, my God.

: Candy and Anya.

: When I was visiting from college, I was invited
: to a couple of Derek and Eric’s parties,
: where I was always sure to see two of their
: closest friends through high school and
: college, Candy and Anya. Here they were –
: beautiful women, all grown up and married.
: We were all equally stunned, but the
: coincidence was wonderful – and twenty years
: later we had all chosen to spend time
: together again, with no awareness of the…
: many connections. Anya went to her closet
: and dug out photo albums of many years of
: outings with Derek and Eric. It was very
: special.

: When Derek met Stella, all things of childhood
: came to rest. It was time to buy a condo,
: move out of the basement apartment crafted
: in his parent’s house, and begin the great
: adventure. Derek grew a well-manicured
: beard. To augment his aging, beige diesel
: Volkswagen Rabbit for his trips to the
: mountains, he bought a trusty Volvo 240. He
: and Stella began to collect antiques,
: including several I had owned (for several
: years after my divorce, it was odd to walk
: into their succession of their houses and –
: there was half my furniture).

: Over the years, the connections between
: families of friends become increasingly
: convoluted. Derek bought my brother Eric’s
: prized, classic Porche 914 – a gulf blue,
: award-winning specimen. Derek and Stella
: arrived one afternoon to show off a white
: Saab he had just bought her. They build
: back-yard carp ponds, Stella did her
: beautiful pencil and charcoal drawings,
: Derek built a career as a highly-respected
: computer guru at Equifax and other
: Atlanta-based companies, and they explored
: life together.

: One of my favorite memories with Derek was a
: New Year’s Eve we shared at their condo.
: While celebrating through the evening, Derek
: had his television tuned silently to the Jim
: and Tammy Faye Baker New Year Special – with
: audio accompaniment from Atlanta’s hard rock
: radio station. It presented a howling-funny
: if surreal background for the evening’s
: festivities. Tammy Faye would sing
: petulantly – with voice provided by Alice
: Cooper – and her “Jiffy-Pop” hairdo
: plastered above her ever-running eye
: make-up. It seemed orchestrated: 96Rock
: coordinated their play list to synchronize
: perfectly with the melodramatic crooning of
: mother and daughter, while Jim Baker did
: lip-synching for the 96Rock-jocks. We all
: laughed and played board games and fell
: asleep in various states of repose
: throughout the long night, awakening to
: enjoy more, and then finally sleepily find
: our way home in the early hours of the new
: day…

: Sadly, we all lost touch over the years.

: I last spent real time with Derek in the early
: nineties and we hadn’t spoken for about ten
: years. Periodically, I would spot him in
: Atlanta traffic in the gulf blue 914 he
: bought from my brother – a tweed British
: gentlemen’s cap perched squarely on his
: head...

: Long after we lost touch, Derek developed an
: affection for fine watches which may have
: started when he bought Stella her first
: Rolex. He appreciated finely-tuned machinery
: – from tightly honed computer code to
: classic German sports cars to beautifully
: cut and shaped wood to handcrafted
: chronographic watches... When he moved to
: Santa Fe a couple years ago, he was already
: a renowned expert on Omega and Hauer watches
: – and true to his nature, he had
: enthusiastically created a website and set
: of online communication forums to enable
: others to share their knowledge and
: opinions. His influence spread from a small
: circle of friends and peers to – the whole
: world.

: Derek loved to share learning.

: In solving the challenges of life, Derek
: respected, sought and always created the
: elegant solution. I may never know or
: understand what challenge Derek faced that
: he chose this closure as his personal
: solution, but I am certain that he thought
: it though carefully and made his choices
: with full knowledge of all the implications.
: So, in the end, as difficult as it might be,
: I have to trust and respect his judgment. I
: wish Derek peace, joy and contentment for
: his eternity.

: I see Derek at the keyboard of his computer,
: ready to solve his first challenge of the
: day. He is alone. His head tilts slightly,
: he clears his throat and focuses steadily on
: the screen, fingers floating just above the
: keyboard like a concert-pianist about to
: tackle Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto…

: And I see him in his gulf blue 914 - tweed cap
: in place, and the faintest serene smile
: betraying just a hint of his pleasure in the
: day...

: We miss you, Derek.

: We always will.

: Godspeed.

: I am terribly sorry for the extraordinary loss
: to Derek’s widow and parents. My sympathies
: and prayers go always with Stella, his
: mother and father, Jim and Martha, the rest
: of his family, and Derek’s many friends
: everywhere.

: Derek’s parents, Jim and Martha Ziglar, can be
: reached at: Mr. and Mrs. Jim and Martha
: Ziglar

: 1130 North Jamestown Road

: Decatur, Georgia 30033

: Derek’s widow, Ms. Stella Ziglar, can be
: reached at: Ms. Stella Ziglar
: 301 State Road 503
: Santa Fe, NM 87506

: May God bless and be with all ~

: Scott and Kristy Visit us at 2nilssons.com.

: "I do not think of all the misery, but of
: the glory that remains. Go outside into the
: fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek
: happiness in yourself and in God. Think of
: the beauty that again and again discharges
: itself within and without you and be
: happy." ~ Ann Frank