Thanks for Everything, Max

Maz Gratzl

EESI's long-time videographer and friend, Max Gratzl, passed away peacefully early August from cancer.

Max started recording EESI's briefings in 2009, and soon became much more than a trusted collaborator. Max was passionate about environmental and energy issues and wanted to make a difference: for him, working with EESI wasn't just a job, it was a calling. He wanted to spread the clean energy word as widely as possible, and was instrumental in making it possible for us to webcast our briefings (indeed, he first suggested the idea). Max was not only eager and enthusiastic about covering all of our events (he recorded over 120 videos for EESI), he also regularly made donations to help advance our work even more. Humble and dedicated to his work, he was a pleasure to work with.

Max filmed and livecast EESI briefings until he was no longer physically able to—one month before his death.

A veteran TV engineer, Max's employers included PBS (7 years), NBC (8 years), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (15 years), where he designed and oversaw the construction and operations of a broadcasting facility for the agency's 100 regional offices. Upon his retirement from the agency in 2007, Max founded his own video production company, MGA Media.

Max was a familiar figure at our events, always the first one there (to set-up his camera equipment and test the wireless connection), and the last one to leave.