Fred Gitelman:

Before there was BBO, Roland Wald was a volunteer for bridge at the Microsoft Gaming Zone which was the biggest online bridge site of that era.

I met Roland in person for the first time at a Zone bridge get-together/convention in Asheville, North Carolina in the late 1990s. Roland had taken it upon himself to introduce duplicate bridge to the (mostly social) bridge players who had come to Asheville. To that end he had brought all of the necessary equipment (including lugging a few sets of duplicate boards) with him from Europe.

When BBO was launched a few years later, everyone involved was a volunteer. Unlike the rest of us, however, Roland had the distinction of remaining a volunteer until the the end.

In the early days of BBO vugraph, not all organizers of major tournaments were receptive to the concept of online vugraph (mostly because BBO asked them to cover expenses). Behind the scenes Roland was a tireless and outspoken advocate for the cause. In more than one way he helped to put online vugraph on the map.

Our paths crossed again in 2005 at the European Championships in Tenerife - maybe Roland had a knack for selecting beautiful places to visit? BBO's vugraph schedule for that tournament was unusually ambitious for that time. Roland insisted on paying his own way to the Canary Islands in order to help ensure that everything went smoothly.

That was the tournament in which Buratti-Lanzarotti made a rather suspicious 6D contract. I was standing with Roland when the announcement was made that these notorious crooks had finally been caught cheating. It was a joyfully emotional moment for many of us who were there on that day, but I clearly recall Roland being especially overwhelmed by the news.

Roland and I witnessed a lot of bridge history together (at least we were together in the online sense) - Versace leaving the table on the last hand of the Bermuda Bowl, "We did not vote for Bush", BBO crashing as the site, thanks largely to vugraph, unexpectedly passed the 10K simultaneous user limit for the first time, and of course many dramatic and spectacular bridge hands and matches (I recall a couple of incredible finishes involving the USA U26 Teams from the early 2000s that were beyond thrilling).

Most people laughed at the notion that bridge could ever be a spectator sport, but Roland Wald more than anyone helped to prove that this was possible.

RIP and thank you, friend.