Words alone can not express the sense of loss this community feels. Frank
was always ready to help, no matter how trivial the question seemed. He did
not judge anyone, but gave freely of his time and expertise. He will be
sorely missed. Reading the messages of condolence here, it is obvious that I
am far from alone in wishing his family comfort in this distressing time. I
do not know if Frank had a personal faith, but I pray that God will accept
him in Paradise and bless his family with His comforting prsence.

Ian

"Norman Harker" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone!

The heading expresses our distress at a loss to the community of Excel.

It is with the greatest of sadness that I must report the news that Frank
Kabel has died in a tragic accident whilst on holiday in his home country
of Germany.

I'm afraid that at this stage, whilst the news has been confirmed from his
employers, we know nothing more. It falls to me to try and do justice to a
good mate on behalf of Bob Phillips, Ron de Bruin and all of Frank's other
many "Excel friends".

Frank was not only a very major contributor to these newsgroups but he was
also a great innovative developer and friend to all. Despite English being
his second language his replies to public and private correspondence were
always well worth reading for content and charm. It is difficult to
believe that Frank only started posting to newsgroups in late 2003 but his
posts were immediately prolific and helpful to all. At one stage Frank was
such a prolific poster we even thought that he was several people. It was
difficult to comprehend how he could compose so many excellent replies at
such a high speed. Frank was our newest MVP Excel and he achieved this
recognition at the same record speed that he was used to working at. It
is distressing to many outside Germany that we never got to meet him in
person. Here though is a photograph that we can remember him by.

http://www.jumper.ch/infos.htm

Many thousands will have benefited from his efforts to help and educate;
even more will benefit over the years from the time and considerable
energy that Frank devoted to developing and sharing his knowledge. Bob
Phillips, Ron de Bruin and I worked many hundreds of hours with Frank on
projects such as QDE (Quick Date Entry) and the EasyFilter Addins. A
pre-production Addin CFPlus being worked on with Bob Phillips and giving
the additional conditional formatting has only happened because of Frank's
energy and we know that he was very proud of its concept and
implementation. Frank also was driving, contributing, and stimulating
other projects and updates and we know that Frank had so much more he
wanted to give to the community of Excel users. He was a great team player
and we could guarantee high speed, critical and friendly feedback. We will
miss him not only for his contributions but also for his humour and
sincere friendship. He enjoyed a Single Malt and a good cigar and lived,
and gave of his life, to the full.

We offer condolences to his family and friends at the loss of Frank at
such a young age. Frank came from Hamburg where his family still live and
had a long term girlfriend to whom we offer the sympathy that can do
little to make up for her loss.

We have all lost a good and sincere friend. Frank represented the very
highest of the traditions of these Excel Groups.

I have undertaken to ensure the collection and collation of responses to
this post both public and private and I will ensure a suitable
presentation to his family.

--
Regards
Norman Harker MVP (Excel)
on behalf of Bob Phillips, Ron de Bruin
Sydney, Australia