The Wisconsin GIS community, and Waukesha County in particular, suffered a great loss on April 13th when Paul Cockrell, GIS Coordinator for the City of Waukesha, died of leukemia. Paul went through a bone marrow transplant in January, but his body was unable to accept the new blood cells. Paul, age 33, was the GIS Coordinator for the City of Waukesha for 7 years. During his time at the City, he developed a City web site, and moved the use of GIS into many other City Departments.
Paul was also active in developing the County GIS by participating in the joint meetings with other municipal GIS administrators and the County GIS Staff. His work with this group lead to the successful integration of the local and county GIS programs. He was quick to question anyone who claimed something could not be done, and was the first to offer to find a solution.
The courage and strength Paul displayed in fighting his disease was amazing and consistent with the way he did his job and lived his life. His wife Janine and two very young sons, Nolan, age 3, and Liam, who was born in January, survive Paul.