At Make:, we are mourning the loss of our colleague, Patrick DiJusto, our Books editor, who passed away unexpectedly in a Brooklyn hospital last Saturday after complications from a surgery two weeks earlier. We are remembering Patrick’s life as an author, editor, tech enthusiast and New Yorker.
From Patrick’s bio on Makezine: “He has sworn to defend mankind against the eventual rise of the killer bots.” Patrick had a strong moral sense of how technology could be used for good and how it can be misused. An article he wrote for us in June, MOSI-MISO and 140 Years of Wrong, advocated eliminating the “master/slave” terminology and markings from microcontrollers and other hardware components. You can hear Patrick’s very nice voice on a Make:cast podcast with the authors of the Make: Geometry book. Our book authors valued his insights and help in shaping their books.
As a journalist, Patrick wrote for Wired, the New Yorker, the Atlantic and many other publications. A Washington Post (2015) review of Patrick’s own book said: “Patrick Di Justo has written a lively coffee-table book for the modern consumer. We could describe it here, but you’ll get the point from its mouthful of a title: “This Is What You Just Put in Your Mouth? From Eggnog to Beef Jerky, the Surprising Secrets of What’s Inside Everyday Products.”
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Patrick as a colleague. He was smart, funny and enthusiastic. Our thoughts and love go out to his family, and his partner, Emily Gertz. Patrick and Emily were co-authors of several handbooks for us and like-minded partners in life. We can’t easily accept losing Patrick and his sensibility. All of us at Make: and those in the maker community who knew him will miss him.
If you knew Patrick, please feel free to share a story in the comments below.
5 thoughts on “Remembering Patrick DiJusto”
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Patrick was wonderful to work with, and absolutely inspirational. I am deeply saddened by his loss.
He was a wonderful editor and our just-published “Make:Geometry” book benefited greatly from his insights. I wish we could have worked with him more!
I worked with Patrick on the books team for more than four years. Erudite, neurotic, funny as hell, and absolutely committed to doing the best work possible, Patrick was an inspiring colleague whose patience and dedication remain impressed upon me. Endlessly curious, incredibly intelligent, Patrick was the kind of man who could just quickly sketch out code to help us watch book sales by the day (or hour if desired), describe in layman’s terms the narcotic lure of your ordinary Dorito, and chat informally about Roman aqueduct construction. Patrick was kind, thoughtful, empathetic, humorous, and a wonderful example of how a human should conduct a life. I will miss him forever.
I was saddened to hear of Patrick’s passing. My sincerest condolences to his family. My memories are of a very kind, caring, and thoughtful individual. My sincere condolences to Patrick’s family and friends. Patrick was a great guy.
I was so sad to hear of Patrick’s passing. I wrote about some widely different topics (food, music, electronics) and he knew a bunch about all of them (except knitting, which he brought Emily aboard for). He will be missed.