Janos was my best friend for over a decade when we played Asheron's Call. He took a random portal to Rithwic, and we met on the bridge. Then we went and hunted shadows. The rest is many nights of killing things together online, or often just talking. He helped me through some dark times. I will never forget you, Katerchen. My baba.☮️❤️

Dear Judit,

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hate that we have to reconnect this way, but I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for me in my career. You and Janos were the pinnacle of professionalism and I can't begin to tell you how profoundly you both influenced the people around you. Talk about leading by example!

Judit, take care and I wish you the best! You have such a beautiful family.

Part 2
---------
Some of my best memories of Janos include -
- Gathering the troops at work on a lazy weekday afternoon to feast at an Italian buffet. 
- Bringing a brand new Quadcopter to work and flying it out in the lawns, until I crash landed it on the rooftop.
- Wearing a tinfoil hat at work to allegedly protect himself from political brainwashing.
- Precariously teetering on two wheels of his chair for the length of a 30 min meeting.
- Settling in really quickly on our team. I watched him pour through code on week 1, and overhauling it in week 2.
- Dragging me to the Alamo Drafthouse because otherwise I would miss out on a truly Austin experience.
- Always ordering a Blue Cheese burger if it was on the menu.
- A signature style of coding with comments that make your day.
- Coaching and encouraging me with concise tips, while also realizing when I was just being lazy and needed to figure things out on my own for my own good.

In my two decades in this industry, I have never come across a better systems programmer than Janos. But more importantly, I will remember him for his kindness, as a mentor, a friend, who will continue to live on in my everyday thanks to the great influence he has had on me early in life.

I didn't know it then, but I realized later in life how influential Janos turned out to be in my personal and professional life. This will therefore be a bit long so I can convey my gratitude to him through his loving family that helped make him the wonderful human he has been.

Part 1
----------

I found myself in Austin as a fumbling, young, solo Indian engineer, and Janos joined our team at StoredIQ a few weeks later.  He played the role of a big brother to me at work, taking me under his tutelage and helping me settle both personally in a new culture and professionally in my fledgling career. Having been through a similar transition himself in his early days in Austin, I could tell he wanted me to have an arm around my shoulder.

Fast forward to today, and I see Janos' imprints all over my personal tastes.
- Over half my music collection today was alien to me before Janos introduced me to New Age, European, and Gothic Metal.
- I end my day with variously flavored herbal tea, sans sugar, after picking this up from him at work.
- I would never have discovered the wonder that is extremely dark (90%) chocolate without Janos' perennial stash at work. This has now been passed down to my kid as well.
- I learned to sneak in a clever quip in otherwise mundane engineering documents to liven up the whole exercise.

My greatest memory of Janos is when he gifted me a soccer ball in Dec 2005 with a Merry Christmas. Till date, it is the only X'mas gift I have ever received.

I didn't get to interact with Janos much in a work capacity, but I knew he was top tier skills and knowledge. 

We talked at the Friday company meetings, it was great to chat to someone else with an interest in fountain pens! His humor was fantastic as others have commented and I'm glad I got to know him.

Judit I'm so sorry for your loss.

Mes preres sont avec vous et vos proches en ce moment difficile!

Judit and Janos were the quiet power couple at Spiceworks, 

Thank you for all the great memories. You are both loved, respected and appreciated. 

Janos' sense of humor was next level incredible. 

Years later, his jokes still make me smile.

See ya down the road brother.

Janos was, to myself and many others, an amazing coworker, mentor, and friend and will be deeply missed.

He was far and away the smartest person I've ever had the pleasure of working with and I am extremely fortunate to have met him at a very influential point in my career. Any success I've had since, I wholeheartedly credit to him. The time we spent building Girlscout together is a highlight I'll not likely be able to top.

But as brilliant as he was, his sense of humor is what I'll probably remember the most. Whether it was a clever quip or one of his fantastic shirts (my favorite is probably the one that said "Go away or I'll replace you with a short shell script"), I knew I could always count on an unexpected, but always welcome, laugh just by being around him. I'll never forget walking past his desk one time and seeing him slunked down deep into his chair, like he always sat, coding away at some problem all the while rocking a literal tin foil hat as though it was nothing! I don't even remember the reason why he was wearing it nor why that picture is what's seared into my brain, but that image is the first thought I think whenever his name comes up in conversation.

Even after going to separate companies, we stayed close. Figuratively and literally! He and I could talk for hours about whatever struck our fancy. And we did so. Many times. Usually about the latest video games, movies, or computer parts. And usually in the basement patio at Spiceworks on a Friday afternoon after I smuggled us some beers from the fridge upstairs (or tequila from my "workstation" when it was in stock).

I don't know if Janos ever knew how much I respected and idolized him, but I sincerely hope he did. I learned so much from him and am eternally grateful to have known him. Rest well my friend. We're all certainly gonna miss you.

So sorry for your loss Judit and family. Janos was our go-to person to compete in giant Jenga during field day, and he came up with great ideas for SpiceWars.  I didn't get to work closely with him, but he will always be remembered as a kind, brilliant person.

I will always remember Janos of his gentle presence and his passion and knowledge of his craft. He will be missed by me and all of those who are fortunate enough to have worked along side him. May he enjoy his new adventure.

I’m so sad for your loss Judit. I didn’t have as much interaction with Janos at Spiceworks as all the people on your team, but I certainly enjoyed each time we did connect. His personality, character, and humor always shined.  You are missed, Janos.

I met Janos, or "the wizard" as we'd often call him, at my first job after college in 2015. It didn't take long to realize how lucky
I was to be working with him. He was always a brilliant, humble, and funny mentor - and friend. Janos never needed many words to make a powerful point (quality over quantity!), and I learned SO much from him over the ~3 years we worked together. He naturally set solid examples for how I'd like to approach many aspects of my career.

Our teams at work would often hang out after hours and complain about whatever absurdities life had recently thrown at us. A mutual friend and I brought in guitars just to mess around and play a bit when time allowed for it. This setting is where I got to know Janos most of all. It was easy for us to connect over a shared love of camping, and in particular, Big Bend National Park. Big Bend was a big part of my childhood, and I loved hearing about some of the adventures that he and Judit had in the park. These after work huddles are also how I learned that Janos is a fellow metal head!

One evening, he recognized that we were playing the intro to "Raining Blood" by Slayer - and laughed at us (warmly) while sarcastically asking "Well, why'd you stop?!" when we got to the 'hard part' (https://youtu.be/hFjoOOPU6Xo?t=64) and were forced to stop playing. When I decided to leave this job, Janos gave me his CD copy of Slayer's "Reign In Blood" album as a parting gift. Now, I will cherish this memento more than ever.

Janos, I'm going to miss you, man. Next time I hit the road on my way to Big Bend, I'll play the Slayer album you gave me and we'll give the trip a proper kickoff!

It was around thirty years ago, but Janos was unforgettable. We worked on the same product, I think it was his first job in the US. He was brilliant, able to understand problems and code so quickly and, as Jozsef said, his work was impeccable. And he was a guy who you would be happy to see when he came in each morning; he’d just brighten up the day. It was fun to see him quickly master English, then become very expressive – to this day there are things I say that I learned hearing Janos speak. 

Judith, I mourn your loss and that of your daughters, Szilvia and Viktoria. Please accept my condolences.

Novell was our first "real" jobs and we were lucky to work with Janos and Judit! We have very fond memories of those days.

We are also fortunate to have been able to catch up in Plano in the twenty-teens and have the opportunity to meet Szilvia and Viktoria :)  

- Tim and Inga Hsieh

(Part 2)

The last few years, our lives, our paths went separate ways. We saw less of each other due to COVID, different jobs. We still talked, helped out each other when needed, so we knew about his health issues. We prayed he’d come out of them victorious. We thought he was doing better, so his sudden passing was a devastating shock to us. We lost a great friend, a genuinely good man, but his family lost a loving father, husband, son and big brother. 
May God give them peace in knowing that Janos lived with love and respect surrounding him.

Godspeed my friend!

(Part 1)

I have known Janos for 32 years. He picked me up at the airport when I first arrived at Austin from Hungary. In the following weeks, Janos and Judit helped me settle into an environment, and a culture that was all very new to me. I’m grateful and proud to call them my friends ever since.

Our families stayed in touch over the years. We had trips and family events together. We watched as the “kis macák”, as Janos lovingly referred to his daughters, grew into beautiful girls and now women. 

Janos loved nature. They visited probably every state and national park in the nation. One of his favorites, I believe, was Big Bend National Park. We heard about it so much that my wife and I eventually visited the park ourselves. Janos was right, the trip did not disappoint. 

Being an engineer myself, it was inevitable that we ended up working together. In fact, I worked with Janos for 16-17 years at 7 different companies. Sometimes he followed me, more often I followed him from one company to another. Well, Austin is a small town after all, you might say. I think it is more than that though. I trusted him and simply loved working with him. You see, Janos was a quiet man. He was also a very smart man with well-founded beliefs, conviction and deep knowledge. I loved discussing ideas, solutions with him. He listened then listened some more. Eventually he offered his opinion that was always thoughtful. His suggestions were often better than I could ever come up with. He did this all without being condescending or disrespectful. He was a great colleague. Naturally, I often saw his code. It was always elegant and well structured. His comments were legendary. They were short, to the point and more often than not very funny. You could tell whether something was written by Janos even if you didn’t see the piece before, if nothing else than from the dry humor that spilled out of the comments.

I knew Janos for more than 30 years as a colleague and as a friend. I met him for the first time in 1990 when he came to Austin for a few months, representing a Hungarian company. His smartness, intelligence and well-educated broad knowledge of computer world really impressed me. I convinced him to stay and join my team at Novell. He turned out to be a great asset. He was a deep thinker and a workaholic, who never rested until he solved any problem which he ran into. Many times, he found tricky, elegant solutions.

He was very friendly, and everyone liked him very much. He was a great friend of many of us. He was a quiet person who did not talk too much, but when he said something, it was always to the point. He wasn’t a party-guy, but whenever the Hungarian community had a get-together, he joined us and seemed to enjoy himself. True to his nature, he never was in the center of these parties. He usually pulled someone to the side and had a conversation, mostly about technological and political topics.

Initially, Janos came without his wife, Judit, who followed him a few months later. When I found out that Judit was Janos’s classmate and had the same strong educational background, I convinced her as well to join Novell. She became a very valuable member of the team. In private life, Judit was the “engine” of their parties, programs, travels, and adventures, however Janos clearly enjoyed participating in them. After their trips it was good to hear their stories and see their pictures.

After I had retired and we moved away from Austin, Maria and myself still had a close contact with Janos and Judit. We saw each other whenever visited back to Austin or you came to Hungary. We often talked on skype, especially for the last two years and kept hoping that Janos could overcome his illness. He was showing great strength during this difficult, trying time.

Janos, the world lost a great person, we will miss you a lot.
Judit, we will keep you and your family in our prayers.

It is very difficult to try to summarize just a few pieces of the friendship we shared. We talked about everything it feels like. Heck I still own the same blender y’all do. I even remember that conversation, and about how to do research and buy those kind of kitchen products. I still think Brian tried fountain pens because of conversations I had with him.  He likes a very different fountain pen style than he did, but we all have nonetheless shopped the same spots and tried out every pen (even non fountain ones) that seems to exist out there! My favorite debate being why just using a mechanical pencil instead of a space pen is not a good enough solution.

My favorite part about working with Janos was you never really knew he was there. He’d be so focused and deep down in the chair the way he always sat. How his back didn’t hurt I’ll still never know! Then, at crucial times he’d suddenly pop up with pertinent information or more importantly a funny quip. I have missed working with him these past few years, but now will also miss our online chats and lunch visits. Especially all our conversations and debates, from technology and handling work politics 🙄 to the best ways to travel and beer to drink. 
He was a fan of all beers, but he and I often drank light beers together - a few of his favorites might have made their way into part of a password or two even 🙃

Humor was something we shared and I couldn’t count the times he helped break the tension or reduce stress during a tough outage or day (or month) or just made me laugh.

He was a good friend, whom I loved and still makes me smile every time I walk into a German pub and think of him.

My deepest condolences to Judit and her family on the loss of Janos.

I'm so incredibly sorry for your loss, Judit. I really enjoyed all of my interactions with you both over the years at Spiceworks. Janos and I bonded over World of Warcraft at some point and, years after no longer working together, I always enjoyed seeing him pop online and reminiscing over what a kind pair the two of you were. He is missed..<3

Part 2 -

My fondest memory of you though was actually the first time I spoke to you and I remember it so clearly. Like actually spoke to you about something that wasn't work related. I remember your profile picture on whatever IM system we used at work at the time was a picture of this intimidating looking, obviously-a-badass-that-you-didn't-want-to-get-on-the-wrong-side-of, stout, but still incredibly cute black kitty making it's way along a brick wall and I had always wondered if it was your cat. I was at your desk, asking about how to access something work related (we were at work after all). After we were done, I noticed the same picture of that black kitty as the lock screen on your phone. So I asked, "is that your cat, Janos?" And in return, you mumbled, "no, Judit won't let me have one. I just really like cats." I wasn't expecting that sort of answer from you at all. Just the fact that you were apparently a massive cat lover and that Judit had blocked your many attempts to get a cat both made me suppress a giggle and made me very fond of you. I was so happy for you when you finally got Benny! 

 I'll miss you very much, my friend. I wish we had had more time together so that I could share with you whatever mechanical marvels I found on the interwebs next and show you some of the silly mechanical projects that I plan to work on that I know you would have found amusing. I'll still email those to you anyways and I hope that we'll get to oogle over those together one day.

Judit, my original message was so long that I'll have to break it out into a few messages.

Part 1 -

Janos, you were so brilliant. I'm certain that trope of the computer hacker that can type a 50 characters in 4 keystrokes and get past any security system was modeled after you. I remember one time at work, you stopped at my desk and muttered, "you seem to know everything around here" and in that moment, I panicked internally. What could I possibly know that the great Janos didn't know!? Was it some complex question about algorithms??? What if he's wrong and I don't know after all?! I don't want to disappoint him! And then you finished your sentence with, "do you know which printer is the one closest to us?" I can't tell you how relieved I was that 1. Definitely not an unsolved computer science problem and 2. That it was a question I certainly knew the answer to. Then you went along your merry way once I answered your question was not about an unsolved computer science problem and that I definitely knew the answer to. And let me tell you, Janos, I do NOT have anxiety. You were just so brilliant that I wasn't sure what clever words you were going to say next and if I would have any sort of remotely clever response in turn. Not that you were ever snobby about it or anything like that. You were so incredibly humble about your brilliance even though it was very plain to everyone else.

Judit,

My condolences to you and your family. It was such a privilege and honor to work with you and Janos. He was an intellegent and kind person .  May he rest in peace. 

Sending love, hugs and prayers to you and your family,
Jennifer

It is still so hard for me to believe that Janos is gone.  He was such a quiet individual but man he was brilliant and made such an impact at Spiceworks.  When you saw Judit you saw Janos.  They were a team.  I am so, so sorry for your loss.  I am praying for the family during this difficult time.  Rest in peace Janos.

Judit,

I am so sorry for your loss.  I remember Janos as a gifted and dedicated co-worker.  
Sending prayers to  you and your family.

Doris Eldridge

OBITUARY

Janos Haide

28 June, 1966 – 14 October, 2023

Cook-Walden Chapel of the Hills Funeral Home

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