In Memoriam: Michael Ryabushkin

In early May of 2025, the long-standing SoCal Python organizer Michael Ryabushkin—known to many as goodwill—passed away.

As possibly the person most responsible for years of thriving of the group and its surrounding community, he had an impact on many people, both professionally and personally. In light of that, there is a page collecting in memoriam messages submitted through this form. If you would like to share your memories of Michael, please do the same.

My contribution is presented below.

Michael and I met in 2017, when I started attending SoCal Python meetups. Pretty soon he brought me under his wing as a co-organizer, and over the ensuing years we and others organized many SoCal Python events together, and even the inaugural PyBeach conference. His helpfulness and influence on everything he contributed to are hard to overstate. He was engaged in many other communities as well, and it’s no secret or surprise that many people active in them knew him and appreciated his work.

Somewhere in there Michael and I became friends as well. I don’t know if he knew how to operate in any other way, and I think that line was rather blurred for him in general, since he always sought ways to help other people. The number of times I’ve witnessed him introduce two people to each other is beyond any count, and that’s basically what he was about: making connections. These connections lead to job opportunities, friendships, and who knows what else.

The Southern California Python community has lost one of its major champions, and he will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, goodwill.

— Nik Kantar, May 2025

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