We regret to share with you the news of the death of Brett Summers. Brett died on Saturday, August 6th from complications arising from chronic alcoholism. Those who knew him, or were familiar with his published works, will mourn the loss of such a truly gifted friend and companion.
Brett Summers, also known as the author Brett Palomar, was born in Los Angeles on May 16th of 1968 to Darrell and Sharon Summers. The family returned to Texas when Brett was 13 and after several moves Brett graduated from high school in Tomball, Texas, a National Merit Scholar. The experience of migration would inform his latter writings. Brett then attended Texas A&M University where he obtained both undergraduate and Masters degrees in Philosophy. In 1994 he moved to Houston, and then to Austin in 2003, putting his incredible grasp of ontology and "meaning" to work in Austin's nascent artificial intelligence industry. He spent three years at Cycorp in that capacity. A consummate coffee lover, he spent his last professional years in Seattle doing similar work.
Brett loved hard. He was often a penetrating critic of his country's follies and of his local community. He had wide range of friendships, many of them centered around the Burning Man experience, the Usenet group Talk.Bizarre, and his beloved aikido dojo. These friendships and connections figure prominently in his later writings and the lessons learned from his observations form the core of his last published work, Overcoming Peace of Mind. Published under the nom de plume Brett Palomar, the work is available on Amazon. Those wishing to hear Brett's voice again, or to gain insight into the ennui of the turn of the century, have a blessing available to them there.
Brett was loved. Few people have left such an indelible impression on so many so quickly. His was not a friendship for the age of ease and low investment and he can number among his friends those outsiders who have pushed through the noise and brittleness of modern society to ask, as he did, what the good life is, and how do we live it, and always with Brett; how can we share it with friends.
He died in Columbia Missouri, surrounded by his friends and family. Brett is survived by his parents, his fiancee Hannah, and the many who loved him. Services will be held on Friday, August 12th, at the Reser Funeral Home in Warsaw , MO.
[Paul Lord Brett's parents decided not to publish in the local paper, as he had so few friends in MO, but they asked me to post this to FB and LJ.]
