I was deeply saddened to hear about Istvan’s passing. Although we worked at the same company for several years, most of our interactions were through ASF channels. He was always professional, patient, and kind, and his passion for open source was clear in every exchange. He consistently showed a willingness to help, no matter the challenge.
In recent years, he became one of the key driving forces behind the Avatica project, and his contributions will have a lasting impact. He will be greatly missed. Best regards, Stamatis Zampetakis On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 8:49 PM Alessandro Solimando <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear All, > The Calcite PMC has received a message from Istvan’s manager regarding his > passing. We are sharing this update with the community to honor his memory: > > Dear All, > > It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of our colleague and > > friend, Istvan Toth <https://people.apache.org/committer-index.html#stoty>, > > who died peacefully on Friday, 3rd April after a short illness. Istvan was > > a valued member of the Operational Database team at Cloudera for 6.5 years, > > serving as a Senior Staff Software Engineer and a member of the Apache > > Calcite-Avatica, HBase and Phoenix PMCs. > > He was known for his expertise, reliability, positive attitude, and the > > kindness he showed everyone around him. His contributions and warm presence > > will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Istvan's family during this > > difficult time. > > May he rest in peace. > > We have decided to share this publicly to reach all who knew him and to > provide a space for everyone to share a thought or memory of Istvan. > --Alessandro
