Matt Decker

My sincere condolences to Matt's wife, children, and all his other family members and friends. It still feels unreal to me that Matt passed after knowing him for 11 years. They don't make them like Matt anymore, managers who tell it like it is and who always have your back. I will never forget that when dozens of us got laid off in 2013 and sent out of the office, he came outside to show compassion and talk to us. Later, he had drinks with us in that beer-soaked but oh so great bar The Spectator. It made all the difference. In the years after, when I worked elsewhere, Matt became a friend who I spent many hours talking to in bars on Queen Anne and in Belltown - his spot-on observations mixed with gallows humor - about the high-tech world, growing kids, his grandchild, politics, military veterans, his adventures on the train, the heart-breaking changes in our cities. Last time I saw him was during a team barbecue on the deck at the new BF building, which he had organized for his team. His departure from BF came as a shock because Matt was the undisputed anchor of the international team and belonged there like the BF sign. At the end of last year, we messaged over LinkedIn about his job search. "Say hi to the freelancers for me, please. Miss all of you," he wrote. We miss you at BF, too, I replied. "Breaking my heart, Schilders, breaking my heart:)", he "grinned". That was Matt: tough on the outside, a big softie inside. He will be missed.