Remembering Luiz

Luiz was a phenomenal technologist, engineer and academic—as so many are commenting on. But he was also, as many are remarking, among the kindest and most well-rounded human beings that I’ve been fortunate to know.?

He took me, a later-comer to the Google engineering family, under his wing. I have four wonderful sisters but no brothers, but Luiz played almost an older brother role for me.? Something I have occasionally found in others but just seemed to fall naturally into place with him.

He taught me the bicycling routes in the Los Altos hills and accompanied me up and down them many beautiful mornings. Best of all, even while we huffed and puffed, he discussed Rousseau, Catholics and Mormons, the complexity of ecology and biology, Elizabeth Bishop in Petropolis, the stench of a walrus, and many many other wonderfully random and curious topics.?

In what would tragically turn out to be our final hours together, he talked of his desire to spend more time playing music, improving his technique, exploring the history and tradition of Brazilian music. It just made him happy in ways he couldn’t ignore. This was also the source of so much depth and happiness in his relationship with Catherine. They were a partnership so unique and generous. The concert he and Catherine put on in their backyard for friends, featuring a professional drummer from Rio, will stay with us all as quintessential Luiz.?

He had thoughtful and politically sophisticated ideas about how to preserve the natural beauty and complexity of the planet. This wasn’t just normal environmentalism, but was fueled by something more similar to a child’s wonder at the complexity and wisdom so deeply embedded in nature—in the ecosystem of the Pantanal, or the interdependence of mangrove roots and fish. I learned from him that crocodilian fauna dominated the earth just 175 million years ago. He believed that preserving the insights and knowledge of life on this planet, as expressed in genetic and natural phenomena, was a critical asset to humans and whatever divinity underpins our universe. He was exploring and actively putting his resources into political, economic and philanthropic work towards this important goal.

He loved his family and spoke often about them. About taking his family to a ranch in Montana, caring for his mother during a recent health issue, the best place for a pingado with his mother near her apartment in Rio, a trip in his sprinter van through the desert regions of the southwest with his brother, his father’s guitar with classic but forgotten Brazilian songs hidden in the guitar’s cavity that formed the basis of a memorial album he recently performed and produced.

With all his many, many friends and acquaintances, he was generous with his own time.? He took the time one morning in his backyard to customize all the settings in my camera for a trip to Africa, lending me several parts which I needed to make the trip complete. He continued to ask after my younger son, suffering from Long COVID, and offered to play his guitar with him whenever he wanted. In one of the tenderest moments, he told me how deeply he cared for my son, but that he didn’t want me to feel obligated to talk about it if it was too painful.

I could go on and on. Thank you, Luiz Barroso, for existing and sharing yourself with me and so many. God bless his family and Catherine in their grief.