Well-respected and admired Australian tech innovator and satirist Leslie Nassar, best known for pioneering the technology that projects the onscreen tweets on Q&A and running the Department of Australia satirical blog for Crikey, has been killed in a hit-and-run incident in Idaho.
Nassar, who was 43, was walking with his two young daughters in Nampa, Idaho – where he had relocated with his family – when he was struck by a Ford pickup truck.
Local man Tristian Myers, 20, has been charged, after he reportedly made a suspicious call to police reporting the incident after leaving the scene. It is suspected that alcohol was involved in the collision.
Nassar first made headlines back in 2009, when his Twitter account lampooning Communications Minister Stephen Conroy over his attempt to implement an Australian internet filter gained some popularity. After that, he focused his satire onto the Department of Australia account (which was often very good).
#greghunt #vow #auspol pic.twitter.com/YqX0QXOvLf
— Dept of Australia (@deptofaustralia) July 10, 2014
Friend Dan Nolan, who also works in the industry, described Nassar in a Facebook post as “an incredible tinkerer, inventor and creator with a real gift to understand technology and communicate it” and “a prodigious inventor and someone who could not just see what technology could do but was constantly trying to push it to the edges of the realms of the possible”.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are indeed providing consular assistance to an Australian family in the United States, but could not comment further due to privacy obligations.
The only good part of today is knowing that @leslienassar would be completely mortified by all the glowing tributes flowing for him.
— Nic Christensen (@nicchristensen) October 23, 2016
Source: Facebook.
Photo: Supplied.
