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Marc Autret
Legend
December 5, 2020
Question

† Theunis de Jong (1966–2020)

  • December 5, 2020
  • 52 replies
  • 21617 views

Better known under his nickname “Jongware”, our brilliant and famous colleague Theunis de Jong died on November 28 at the age of 54.

 

Everyone in this forum—and especially the older generation I belong to—will surely understand what this death means to the InDesign community. I invite the Adobe team, moderators, persons in charge… to create a dedicated tribute page. As Theunis had many many friends here (Peter, Uwe, Gregor… well! I won't mention you all, buddies!), it would be really attentive to give them a space of collective memory.

 

I have posted a more personal—and written—tribute on my website (I would be very touched if you read it, of course). It contains a quote that I think justified to share here with you anyway. A month ago, as he knew his days were numbered, Theunis wrote to me:

 

“I am really happy to have been a member of that community for so many, many years, and having been able to teach people the occasional tidbits about design, layout, and typography, InDesign in general and scripting specifically.” —Theunis de Jong, Oct. 7, 2020.

 

Take care,

Marc Autret

https://www.indiscripts.com/pages/theunis

52 replies

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

I did not know Theunis personally but knew him from his many posts to the community pages. He was always very generous with his time and skill. He will be missed.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
Frans v.d. Geest
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

Terrible, terrible news...

Goodbye old friend, rest in peace...

lfcorullon13651490
Legend
December 6, 2020

I am very very sad and will miss him a lot!

I'm sure he was one of my biggest inspiration. 

His legacy will live in a all of us, who plays with InDesign scripting. 

davidblatner
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

I was so sorry to hear of Jongware's passing, and I deeply appreciate and resonate with the words that Marc has written.

 

Theun and I exchanged emails for over a decade, and he was always a generous, kind, and thoughtful friend and member of the InDesign community.

 

I remember of our earliest exchanges, when I mixed him up with another "de Jong," who was also an early scripter. He  wrote:

 

"Theunis 'Teus' de Jong is a former colleague of mine, when we used to work for the same publisher in Amsterdam. He, being from the north of Holland, prefers the short form "Teus", whereas I, based more southern, prefer 'Theun'. It's merely coincidental we're both InDesign power users."

 

How amazing that two people with the same name could be so great. 

 

Jongware's extraordinary IndyFont continues to be an astonishing accomplishment, and his hundreds of other smaller scripts that he gave away for free to help people have made a huge difference in people's productivity and happiness.

 

I miss him already.

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

Thank you for your tribute, Marc.

My condolences to his family and friends.

This is such sad news.

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

Marc:

 

Thank you so much for letting us know. Like the rest of the community, I am greatly saddened by his loss. We never met in person, but he reached out to help me on multiple occasions and for that, I will be forever grateful. His legacy will live on and will continue to touch people's lives through his scripts, resources and myriad creative solutions.

 

I am so sorry. 

 

~Barb 

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
hammer0909
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

This news is so sad. The community has lost an amazing contributor and person. If you've been on these forums for even a short amount of time, you've probably been helped by Theunis either directly or by one of the scripts that he wrote. He will be greatly missed!

Ten A
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

Really sad...

RIP.

BarlaeDC
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

A sad day.

 

Rest well.

brian_p_dts
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 6, 2020

For me, Jongware was synonymous with InDesign scripting since, as just noted, he was the first to put the API online. Just an invaluable contributor to this community. My condolences.