I first met Ilmo at Oxford and have many happy memories together there but the one I’m focusing on & sharing now is from a brief but memorable trip to interview at Stanford for my PhD. We all reunited for lunch beforehand nearby to see Ilmo’s then new digs at Google X, as pictured. It […]Read More

I knew Ilmo from his time at Oxford working on his PhD, which was part of a broader project (‘EROS’) that I was employed on in Sheffield, UK. While we didn’t work closely together in the project, he was someone I looked forward to seeing at our meetings around the country, because of his enthusiasm […]Read More

We cannot believe that Ilmo has passed. We are at a loss for words. It has been quite some time since we last saw each other, back when we visited Ilmo and Hayzell in Oxford. We treasure fond memories of that get together as well as other ones before that around Berkeley. It is heartwarming […]Read More

Ilmo always followed through. When he said “we should do this,” it was never an empty intent. He meant “I’ve decided that I want to do this, so we’re going to do this.” He made things happen and never hesitated to reach out to invite you to join him in his ideas or his fun […]Read More

I am extremely grateful that I got the world’s most beautiful Ilmo. I became a single parent when Ilmo was a 4-month-old baby when his biological father chose a lifestyle that the little boy couldn’t fit into. Ilmo was in everything I did. I felt that my most important task is to be a mother […]Read More

It was at Anna’s place in Oxford to celebrate Swedish Midsummer. I think that was the day we met for the first time… Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my photo with you and Ilmo. That happens often as I am usually the photographer. Although we didn’t meet often, I remember all with you. Kimchi making, visiting […]Read More

Ilmo was an extraordinary mentor who profoundly shaped my intellectual journey and professional growth. While I was studying abroad at Oxford, he served as both tutor and instructor, stretching my intellectual curiosity and sparking my deep interest in psychology, human behavior, and the philosophy of science. Our sessions—sometimes held in his apartment (I believe Hayzell […]Read More

I’m going to guess it was 2004 or 2005 when Ilmo walked into my cramped, 3-person Tolman Hall office with no windows and told me he wanted to collaborate on his honors thesis. He struck me as totally unique, really genuine, smart as heck, and someone who would be a ton of fun to work […]Read More

Ilmo was the BEST MAN!

Ilmo was such a good person. I’m so sad and can’t believe he’s gone. I, like many, thought I would see him during another visit. I had been a few times to see him, Hayzell, and Cal. Besides being incredibly clever and dedicated in his own work, Ilmo was always thinking of others (ie., a […]Read More

I met Ilmo while in my early days of my career at Sony PlayStation, and we quite quickly became allies in our quest to standardise some of the vast amounts of information flowing through our office. It was so long ago, that he had yet to adopt the last name which we all now know […]Read More

Ilmo & Lauri at the Grand Canyon and Death Valley in 2003ish

I met Ilmo 15 years ago when we were both grad students at Oxford. Ilmo immediately struck me as wicked smart, very funny, and having a huge heart. When I mentioned that my wife and daughter were with me in England since I was an older student, he immediately introduced my wife Alison to Hayzell […]Read More

I was fortunate to have Ilmo and Hayzell as my tenants for a couple of years. I often bragged to friends about how Ilmo would effortlessly handle any issue that came up. I still remember how he drew out the entire furnace design on paper and explained the problem to me when multiple technicians couldn’t […]Read More

I met Ilmo in the early nineteen eighties when my family moved to a small town in Finland, where, obviously, I did not know anyone. I was seven years old, I was small, alone and shy, a lot of similarities with Ilmo (minus the shyness of course). I remember my first day in the new […]Read More

Ilmo and George – Hanging Out!

Ilmo will forever be – My BEST Man!

A truly memorable trip to Mexico’s town of Dolores Hidalgo – Birthplace of Mexican Independence!

I first met Ilmo in 2008 when we were both introduced as the newest graduate students in the Experimental Psychology department at Oxford. From that moment, Ilmo and Hayzell became more than friends; they became people I could rely on for anything, whether about life, academics, or simply sharing a laugh. Their style was unforgettable; […]Read More

I first met Ilmo in 2008 when we were both introduced as the newest graduate students in the Experimental Psychology department at Oxford. From that moment, Ilmo and Hayzell became close friends— people I could rely on for anything, whether about life, academics, or simply sharing a laugh. Their style was unforgettable; they would arrive […]Read More

What was it like to spend time with Ilmo? Well, this is impossible to describe, but perhaps my lessons on scrambled eggs are something. Visiting their home in Cambridge, Ilmo told me he learned the best way to scramble eggs from watching videos online. Ilmo not only enjoyed learning about such things — often from […]Read More

It’s hard to express the essence of Ilmo in just a few words, as there are so many cherished memories of him and Hayzell. Whether through a simple text or an in-person meeting, Ilmo and Hayzell were everyone’s favorite couple. Losing Ilmo, such a kind and generous spirit, feels unimaginable. As I sift through old […]Read More

I first met Ilmo and Hayzell at Oxford while getting to know Ariel. Meeting Ilmo was a highlight; Ilmo has given me the best Oxford University punting lesson; his kindness and humor made me feel so welcome. Less than a year later, I married Ariel, and we’ve kept in touch with Ilmo and Hayzell ever […]Read More

There’s so much I could say about Ilmo as a colleague, about the depth of his integrity, his sincere care for others, his collaborative and non-political/factional way of working with others, but I want to instead focus on who he was to me – as a friend and role model – because this is what’s […]Read More

In what I consider to be one of the luckiest movements in the universe, Ilmo was assigned to be my intern manager at Facebook in the summer of 2018. He was brilliant, kind, silly, honest, substantive, and always full of surprises (when he realized I was homesick for Chicago, he insisted we needed qualitative research […]Read More

Autumn was beautiful and warm for Ilmo’s family when they visited Finland

I have so many favorite memories of Ilmo – from a team Tropical Thursday hang out over video call where an apricot fell on him from his tree (and of course he made some Newton joke about gravity proven via apricot instead of apple haha), to gvc video calls where he got to meet our […]Read More

I have lots of fond memories of my time in Oxford, many of which Ilmo was a part of, and many of which involve food. Be it a fancy dinner at a college or a “so crazy it good work” evening of sharing weird recipes,a Swiss cheese fondue, picking raspberries or Ilmo showing us the […]Read More

We will miss our friend Ilmo. He was always a bright light and we had so many fun adventures with him – Mexico for Joe and Dawn’s wedding, visits in England, Facebook tour… He taught me to search for gratitude and I have applied this to running my company as the team shares what we […]Read More

In 1977, a photo of 2-year-old Ilmo was taken at the same well, where we took a similar photo later, when he was already an adult. Equally dear in both pictures.

Ilmo Konstantin, my most wonderful son in the world, who was already a thinker at the age of 2, curious about everything, a researcher and often a bit funny. My dear first born. I miss you deeply. Thank you for all the moments I got to spend with you, Mom

A major milestone in Ilmo’s career was founding a company with a few friends to create websites. In early 1996, a local newspaper, Turun Sanomat, published an article that sparked significant interest from local businesses. This momentum led the team to join the advertising agency Bates Saatchi & Saatchi. English translation of the article: Bisnes […]Read More

I’ll always remember Ilmo as a pillar of our team, setting the stage with humor and compassion, and freely sharing his wit and wisdom with others. Here’s a photo of him the first time we gathered in person, at a 2022 team summit in Seattle. For his introduction, he shared how science was always in […]Read More

I met with Ilmo first time in 1995 when he was introduced as a good addition to team who would found a company creating websites. Netscape Navigator 1.0 had been just released and we were exited to start a journey together which would take all of us into very interesting roles and places. Very soon […]Read More

Ilmo was really special. Ilmo was one of my best friends and the closest thing in the world I had to a brother. I can’t count even count on two hands the number of life milestones we’ve all shared together over all of these years. Ilmo and I first met and became friends while we […]Read More

I am honestly at a loss for words right now, but I just went down memory lane by looking at old photos from my time with Ilmo at Oxford. I strongly remember some amazing Halloween parties and Ilmo’s enthusiasm for costumes, which I’m glad to see continued well beyond those days. He was always the […]Read More

I met Ilmo in 2017 where I was fortunate enough to work closely with him as a colleague. Ilmo was extremely brilliant, but what made ilmo truly special was that his kindness, compassion, and ability to have a good laugh were equal to his brilliance. During our time as colleagues, Ilmo taught me about quantitative […]Read More

This was the first message Ilmo ever sent me on Messenger. He was always thinking about others and as quick witted as the best of them (the quickest?). The image fairly accurately captures years of Messenger exchanges — silly photos, memes, or gifs he’d seed, then we’d banter for a while never knowing where the […]Read More

Ilmo and I started on the same day in 2015 at Facebook. I immediately knew he was a very special human – full of brilliance, kindness, and an unparalleled sense of humor. Ilmo graciously and generously gave of his time and energy to educate everyone around him, teaching us new analytical methods as well as […]Read More

Some time after Ilmo and I stopped working directly together (thanks to reorgs / team changes), I was showing my son one of the books I had a chapter on, and while showing him my own name I noticed that years before our paths crossed at work, when both of us were in academia, Ilmo […]Read More

During my onboarding, Ilmo made it clear that learning to use the espresso machine was a crucial part of working in the tech company. Here’s a slide from one of his decks explaining how he made the impact that he did.

Ilmo helped me land my first tech job in the Bay Area while I was working on a post-doc. He had made a similar transition from academic into industry. His coaching was a combination of pointing me to specific jobs, coaching me on what the role involves and where to study, and also getting over […]Read More

Ilmo was hilarious. He was frequently sending a meme, joke, or video he found on Tiktok. We had the same sense of humor — dry, blunt, bleak, deadpan, gallows-style humor. For a few years, we shared a commute to work across the Dumbarton bridge, and that’s really when I got to know him better. We […]Read More