Robin Fairbairns (1947 - 2022)

We are sad to report that our longtime friend, team member, and LaTeX contributor Robin Fairbairns died 25th February 2022, after a long period of ill health. Much missed husband of Linda, former husband and friend of Josy, father of Chloe and Sam, stepfather of Chloe and Lydia.

The Funeral will be on 30th March 2022.

Robin was instrumental in bringing the UK TeX archive to Cambridge, and setting up the CTAN TeX archive network in 1992, of which Cambridge, DANTE and SHSU were the three original hosts. The UK CTAN host was managed by Robin until his retirement in 2014. Robin wrote or maintained many well-used LaTeX packages that are on CTAN.

He also regularly served on the UKTUG Committee, and for many years developed and maintained the “UKTUG FAQ” archive of Questions and Answers on TeX related subjects. The FAQ is now maintained at https://texfaq.org but the majority of the text still reflects Robin’s original work.

Robin was a tireless member of the community who helped many people for many years with his kind, friendly, and patient approach. He clearly looked to improve the TeX ecosystem and worked hard to leave it in a better place after his time was up. He certainly succeeded in that.

With sadness

— The LaTeX Team