Funeral and Burial for Adrian Lamo
"With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let all of Adrian's friends and acquaintances know that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son…”
I never thought that one day I would have to report the death of Adrian, but I knew that he wouldn't have wanted a stranger to do it.
Adrian was more than a son to me, he was my friend, my confidant, my inspiration. I called him last February 20th for his 37th birthday without knowing that 20 days later he would be gone from this earth. We made plans to meet in the summer, he sounded cheerful and full of wit as he always was. Adrian had struggled with depression and anxiety for a great part of his life, but I was happy to hear that he was doing well, writing and responding to questions about security and personal issues from people all over the world.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Adrián-Lamo
From an early age it was clear that he was a very special child. Adrian was fascinated by the stories I told him. I was surprised when as a tender two-year-old he told me: "Mario, if you are my dream, I don't want to wake up."
Years later, Adrian would become a very talented writer and hacker.
He shared with me and with reporters many of his hacks when he was around 20 years old. One day, a company pressed charges and as a result the FBI came looking for him at our home in California. They told my wife they had an arrest warrant for Adrian and that he needed to come out of the house to give himself up. We told them he wasn’t at the house but they still wanted to come in. My wife told them to bring a search warrant first. They had the house under siege for three days. Adrian was in LA at that time with a film crew that was doing a documentary about him. He surrendered later that week to the marshals in Sacramento. He had hacked the NYT.
In this obituary from the same NYT that he hacked you will find a small part of his story...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/obituaries/adrian-lamo-dead.html
These funds will be used for his funeral arrangements and memorial. I am his father, Mario Lamo, and will be managing them for this purpose. In the case of any surplus, a scholarship fund will be established for Adrian's 19-year-old sister, Andrea.
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I never thought that one day I would have to report the death of Adrian, but I knew that he wouldn't have wanted a stranger to do it.
Adrian was more than a son to me, he was my friend, my confidant, my inspiration. I called him last February 20th for his 37th birthday without knowing that 20 days later he would be gone from this earth. We made plans to meet in the summer, he sounded cheerful and full of wit as he always was. Adrian had struggled with depression and anxiety for a great part of his life, but I was happy to hear that he was doing well, writing and responding to questions about security and personal issues from people all over the world.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Adrián-Lamo
From an early age it was clear that he was a very special child. Adrian was fascinated by the stories I told him. I was surprised when as a tender two-year-old he told me: "Mario, if you are my dream, I don't want to wake up."
Years later, Adrian would become a very talented writer and hacker.
He shared with me and with reporters many of his hacks when he was around 20 years old. One day, a company pressed charges and as a result the FBI came looking for him at our home in California. They told my wife they had an arrest warrant for Adrian and that he needed to come out of the house to give himself up. We told them he wasn’t at the house but they still wanted to come in. My wife told them to bring a search warrant first. They had the house under siege for three days. Adrian was in LA at that time with a film crew that was doing a documentary about him. He surrendered later that week to the marshals in Sacramento. He had hacked the NYT.
In this obituary from the same NYT that he hacked you will find a small part of his story...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/obituaries/adrian-lamo-dead.html
These funds will be used for his funeral arrangements and memorial. I am his father, Mario Lamo, and will be managing them for this purpose. In the case of any surplus, a scholarship fund will be established for Adrian's 19-year-old sister, Andrea.
Dear friends, family, and others who contributed to make this final journey possible, today June 23rd 2018, we buried Adrian’s ashes at at sacred place in a Colombian Church. There was a ceremony for him attended by close family and his ashes were deposited near the ashes of his paternal grandparents.
Many people contributed to have his ashes transported from Wichita to Chicago, where the Colombian consulate in that city received them and took them to their final destination.
What would Adrian have thought about all of this? I found the following in one of his Quora responses:
“I do believe that the essence of self survives death in some way. At that point, I will cease to be Adrian Lamo (and perhaps say good riddance), but my experiences and growth will remain with me wherever I go. And I have a strong feeling that in that place I will be neither hated nor worshiped, but simply be another visitor passing through. Which is what I feel like most of all in this world as well.”
I’m sure that Adrian’s experiences and growth remain with him wherever he went and that he is now a visitor in a different place unknown to us. His physical body is not with us but his wisdom, compassion and imagination will remain with us forever.
Thanks to you all and be well!
Many people contributed to have his ashes transported from Wichita to Chicago, where the Colombian consulate in that city received them and took them to their final destination.
What would Adrian have thought about all of this? I found the following in one of his Quora responses:
“I do believe that the essence of self survives death in some way. At that point, I will cease to be Adrian Lamo (and perhaps say good riddance), but my experiences and growth will remain with me wherever I go. And I have a strong feeling that in that place I will be neither hated nor worshiped, but simply be another visitor passing through. Which is what I feel like most of all in this world as well.”
I’m sure that Adrian’s experiences and growth remain with him wherever he went and that he is now a visitor in a different place unknown to us. His physical body is not with us but his wisdom, compassion and imagination will remain with us forever.
Thanks to you all and be well!
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