[Update 2/19/07: the search for Jim has been called off after just about three weeks.  Thanks to everybody who helped, and best wishes to Jim's family.]

Jim Gray, a Microsoft technical fellow who is best known for his seminal work on database transactions and data management, has been missing for almost a week.  He took his 40-foot sailboat, Tenacious, last Sunday to scatter the remains of his late mother near the Farallon Islands off the coast of California, and has been missing ever since.  This article has additional details.

Although the Coast Guard has called off the search, friends and family are chartering private aircraft, scouring satellite imagery, and NASA even made a special run of its ER-2 aircraft to generate additional data.  Werner Vogels has more information on his website, including how you can help with the search.

Jim actually provided important feedback while I was thinking and writing about PLINQ, and was one of the most supportive and excited reviewers of the project.  Not to mention all of the papers he wrote or was involved with that inspired a lot of the direction.  I’d be very sad to see his life cut short, particularly in this way.