I was horrified when I got a text message this morning from a friend telling me Eliot Kalmbach had passed away in a hiking accident. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that Eliot and a friend were hiking an off beat trail at Grand Teton National Park.
I remember Eliot as a genius, an explorer, a jokester, and an all around good guy. We took AP Calculus together at Downingtown High School. We also played trumpet together in the marching band, and traveled to Pasadena to perform in the Rose Parade in 2001. When I found out he was going to Princeton after high school, I knew he would make it big.
Most of my contact with Eliot had been through Facebook, where I would frequently check out his amazing pictures. I feel like he climbed every mountain known to man:
I felt a little worse when I heard about his passing because I was supposed to meet up with him a few weeks ago when he was visiting northern California for some business. Our timing was off, and we couldn’t meet up. I really really really wish I got to see him. He was up to some big things too:
“As for what I am up to, a couple of friends and I put together a business plan that won an incubator contest with Lightspeed Associates here in palo alto, so our programming team has been out here all summer testing things out and getting ready to launch our product (which is basically a service that delivers test preparation material for standarized tests, such as the SAT/ACTs, through sms platforms). Most of the time I have been working on this stuff remotely, because I had some business on the east coast, but felt that I should come out during the push towards launching the beta…”
Eliot was such a great friend, even though we hadn’t seen each other since high school. When tragedy struck at my university two years ago, Eliot reached out to me:
I will remember Eliot as an adventurer, advancer of technology, musician, and general enthusiast of life. He is survived by his parents, and two sisters Hilary and Whitney.
Here is a message from the family:
Relatives and friends are invited to Eliot’s Funeral Service, 10:00 am, Monday, September 28, 2009 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 7 St. Andrew’s Lane, Glenmoore, PA. Interment is private.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 am – 10:00 am, Monday, September 28, 2009 at the church.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to The Franklin Institute Science Museum, Development Office, 222 N. 20th St., Philadelphia, PA 19103; and/or Philmont Scout Ranch, 17 Deer Run Rd., Cimarron, NM 87714.
We would like any friends of Eliot who are coming in from a distance and staying overnight on Sunday in the area to **get in touch with us**. (Facebook (John Kalmbach), , or ).
