Jeffrey Zeldman

I first met Chris digitally when he was a 16-year-old design intern running David Siegel’s High Five empire. Siegel was the first rock star web designer, and High Five was the first site promoting great design on the web. When David Siegel grew tired of running High Five, Chris, with David’s blessing, essentially took over. In 1998, when A List Apart got together with High Five to run a community-based design awards competition, my High Five partner was Chris. He was just a kid, but you’d never have known it—he handled the responsibility as thoughtfully and professionally as you could wish. In the 20-odd years since, I watched Chris make many intellectual and creative contributions to our community. He was a talent and a wonderful man. I can’t believe he’s gone.