14.05.2020
Farewell to Tine
It was to be expected and yesterday it happened. Christiane "Tine" Römer, our head of marketing, passed away in the early morning hours of May 10, 2020 - quietly and mostly without pain despite her serious illness.
It is difficult for me to grasp my feelings. She was a long-time employee, companion and good friend.
When I remember her, it is as a kind-hearted, honest and fun-loving optimist who did not give up, no matter how difficult times were. Whether in her personal life or at work, she never let it get her down.
We had already worked together in companies before syspro and got to know and appreciate each other. When she started at syspro in 2009, the situation after the economic and financial crisis was not easy either. With her work, she helped to develop syspro, even though, or perhaps because, she was not so technically proficient, since she had studied cultural studies.
With her empathy, she dug into our subject matter, asked questions until she understood it and wrote an understandable, interesting article out of what we engineers served up dryly. Her artistic skills did us good.
Whether it was trade fairs or syspro events, the design of the website or our magazines, she organized and thus shaped our appearance to the outside world, yes, she shaped us. She also overcame her technology shyness and dabbled in social media. For our syspro magazine, she discovered Liam as a model and pushed her through against initial resistance.
She was a wonderful person, of course with weaknesses, like all of us. With her honesty she was able to disarm others, could fight resolutely for her ideas and was still open to ideas of others. And so, both professionally and privately, it was very nice to have her around.
The last time I spoke to her was just under a month ago, when she already knew that there was no more chance. I was very impressed by her confidence and when I sent her samples of my guitar exercises, she was happy and motivated me: "I'm looking forward to seeing your progress." ... Even if I can't play them for you anymore, yes, Tine, I will keep at it....
She was optimistic until the end, even though her body was getting weaker and weaker. Her strong heart kept her alive longer than expected. She still wanted to live so much.
Thank you that you existed.
Harald Dittmar
