03/18/2019
Rest In Peace Mitch, the Web3D Community will forever remember you and your contributions to 3D Graphics and VR!
A long-time Web3D member and advocate - Mitch Williams passed away on Monday March 11, 2019. We will always remember him for his innovation in 3D and VR. Mitch has been part of the Web3D community for several years as a Web3D Consortium Professional member and was recently elected as a Web3D Consortium board of director.
We last saw Mitch at SIGGRAPH 2018 in Vancouver. He told us that he had been diagnosed with cancer but was optimistic about his treatment and in good spirits and still actively pursuing 3D graphics at Samsung.
Mitch was always enthralled by the fundamental insights obtained when displaying information in three or more dimensions. He pursued his passion using a large variety of technologies from VRML to Java/Java3D to X3D. His passion extended to educating others as a writer (WebGL Hotshot) and teacher - middle school to college (UCLA, UC Berkeley, El Camino Community).
We was a constant and continual promoter of VRML and X3D being one of the first business to use 3D content on his website. His last professional efforts were to bring X3D into Samsung’s GearVR so that people could easily create 3D content for that device. Despite his health conditions he recently started leading the Web3D Mixed reality Working Group for using X3D in MAR applications.
Mitch was an educator and has inspired students to continue forward with their ideas through Pixar, Sony, Google, Samsung, Apple, the United Nations, Create, and beyond. He was an author for life and his words, his care, and the mark he has left will live forever.
Mitch was also a member of the LA ACM Siggraph Chapter and ACM SIGGRAPH. He was a SIGGRAPH Pioneer and Mentor for many of those years. He prided himself that he attended every SIGGRAPH Conference. Mitch along with Dave Blackburn, (Virtual Ventures) Kit Galloway & Sherrie Rabinowitz (Electronic Cafe), Cindy Ballreich (3Name3D), Mark Pesce (SGI), John DeCuir (Sony Picture Imageworks), Leonard Daly (Daly Realism), and others formed the Los Angeles VRML User Group from a BOF at Spring 1997 Internet World. They were soon joined by Carole Sumler and Tony Rockliff & Pascal Baudar (Cybertown).
Funeral services will be held at Eden Memorial Park in Los Angeles on 20 March, 2019 from 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm (details at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/mission-hills-ca/mitchell-williams-8203502)
Celebrate the life of Mitchell Aaron Williams, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Groman Eden Mortuary.
