Ilmo was one of the first people I befriended when I joined tech. He (and Joe) took care of our team in every way imaginable. One very important way he cared for us was the care he put into our post-lunch caffeine intake. I can hear his laugh now as I remember our daily post lunch trips to microkitchen where we’d all line up for Ilmo the barista to make us lattes. After doing this for a while, Ilmo finally announced that it was time for all of us to learn how to make our own coffees. For the next few days he’d stand next to each of us and coach us how to pull our espresso and foam the milk just right. As much as I practiced, I never made a latte as good as Ilmo did. And he knew it too… Whenever I had a hard day after those lessons, Ilmo would kindly make me a special latte to help me feel better.

Ilmo’s care for others was one of his most defining characteristics. Even just the other day, as we were chatting about his onboarding to a new team at Google, he made sure to set aside time in our conversation to strategize how we’d help a fellow teammate progress in her career.

We had JUST started working together again after many years at separate companies. I was so excited to have my friend close to me again at work. I was excited for how he was going to make the work we did together better. I was excited for more people to learn from him and experience Ilmo as a wonderful colleague and friend. I was looking forward to telling him about the improvements I’ve made to my latte art over the years. I was looking forward to seeing him in person at a team offsite in a few weeks.

I can say with absolute certainty that I will never meet someone like Ilmo again. A special, brilliant, funny, kinda, genuine human. Ilm,o you are loved and will be forever missed.

Carly Rush