An educated Engineering wizard, humble & generous, kind and wonderful man.

posted on behalf of Roxsana Hadjizadeh
From Right to Left: Doug, Tara, Roxsana & Saeed.

In this tragic event, I lost a friend who was an educated Engineering wizard, humble & generous, kind and wonderful man!

A man who would go above and beyond his job to spread scientific knowledge not only by mentoring teens in robotics but also as keynote speaker for 3 IEEE events on 100% Electric Car as soon as I asked for his help in 2006 & 2007! He patiently stayed hours after each event answering questions to over 200+ attendees.

Once I asked him what he wanted for an appreciation gift from IEEE, he said a green bag form Whole Foods Market. What an environmentally conscious person! I remember he would carry his lunch purchases without plastic bag!

A man who cared for his fellow employees by joining ERT (Emergency Response Team) team at Tesla, I remember he had the knowledge for all the equipments and gears to be ordered and once told me that he was updating his medical technician certificate every year at Valley Medical Hospital. He got 100% correct on his test at CPR / AED and Standard First Aid in a few minutes while a few of us at Tesla training were struggling w/ tricky questions for a long time. Still can remember his victory smile!

I’ll never forget our walks to lunch and Starbucks afterward w/ Phil Cole, Krispin Leydon, Marty Taft, Jon Bauer, Bruce Femmel, Scott Brenneman, Peter Krauer and others.
Doug never missed our Thursday lunch hikes at Edgewood Park in San Carlos with Phil, Tara, Peter, Krispin, Marty and other Engineers. He liked racing with Phil and Tara down hill after 2 miles and always enjoyed eating lunch on the benches before coming back to work!
I remember the first time I met Doug when interviewed at Tesla Motors back in 2005 – he interviewed me for technical competency later he educated me on the operations behind his design of controller board on the PEM (Power Electronic Module). What a great guy, I thought.
Less than a week before this tragic event, I talked to Doug while driving home from work and asked him to gather all of our friends at Tesla for a luncheon while being so apologetic not going up there to visit them for a long time due to my heavy work load; I could have imagined his characteristic smile while he said: “you always worked 24 hrs at Tesla too”. -J —Had I known he won’t be with us anymore, I would have made the time to drive up there before facing this heartbreaking event! Now I have learned my lesson!!!

No, I didn’t fly with Doug, our plan to fly w/ my husband & daughter was canceled and we never rescheduled with our busy lives. My daughter asked me on the phone, “What happened to Doug, please tell me!” She had heard it on the news. She hugged me when she got home from her trip knowing how sad I was. I told her I can not believe he is gone and do not want to accept it. This way the good memories will stay with us forever!

This is a good one: Once I had my car blocked by another car at our Last Friday of the Month Devil’s Canyon Brewery Company happy hour set up by John Bauer in 2007 and we could not find the owner or driver. Doug asked the Tesla Engineers to push the car away and as soon as I passed, they pushed the car into my parking slot……..what a joy with laughs and applaud. I was laughing my heart out talking to my husband on what happened while driving home! Nothing would stop Doug helping a friend! Absolutely nothing!

It was such a great pleasure working with him and Tesla Engineers! I will never forget!
Due to lack of space, Doug, Tara and I were located in a mega cube. Doug had purchased all kinds of energy bars from Costco and shared with us whenever we were hungry. He purchased two flash lights for Tara & me so we could see outside walking through dark parking lot. He also gave us magnifying lenses so we could see details on the PBCA’s (Printed Circuit Boards) — I have been carrying it in my purse and still using it — I remember him & his kindness every time I use it!!

In this tragic event, we all lost a friend who was an educated Engineering wizard, humble & generous, kind and wonderful man! We will dearly miss him!