On Thursday, October 22, 2020, the CRASH Space community suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of long time President, Justin Corwin, after a sudden illness.
As President, Justin gave his consistent presence, running weekly meetings and other regular events such as Radio Mondays, Neuroscience Group, Arduino classes and the Mega-Take Apart and Swap Meet. As an engaged member, he was always willing to lend his extensive knowledge to anyone who wanted information or suggestions. As a friend, Justin was endlessly kind, generous of spirit, and always happy to talk or listen.
We mourn him as individuals, and together as a community, but we also honor his memory by supporting each other and doing our best to contribute to the world. In the coming months, there will doubtless be more actions to memorialize him, which will be linked to on this page.
Please feel free to share any memories and thoughts in the comments below or on the working list of his collaborations. If you have photos that you would like to add to the collection, send an email to memoriam [a] crashspace.org
There will be a memorial service on discord for Justin on Saturday, November 21st at 11am. You can find more information here.
Always remember to be kind to each other. Thank you for being a member of this community.
Annual meeting March 15, 2014, the day Justin Corwin became President. Photo by Chris Horton 
Justin Corwin on a ferry trip, July 28, 2014. Photo by Kyle Cothern 
Justin, Josh, and Emily carve pumpkins October 26, 2013. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/h1gN27 
Justin Corwin, March 26, 2011. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/9tRJ1V 
Justin looks at a Twinkie that has been vacuum chamber, September 19, 2010. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/8CqbW7 
Justin Corwin looks at a Jacobs Ladder, October 18, 2010. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/8Lj9af 
Justin Corwin at CRASH Space, May 14, 2011. Picture by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/9HtCkb 
Justin Corwin, takes a self portrait wearing a welding mask, June 4, 2012. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/bUf95z 
Justin Corwin and Naim Busek work on building a boat for Ephemerisle, June 5, 2012. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/cbVMZ3 
Justin Corwin mixes concrete by hand, August 22, 2015. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/wSEDvt 
Justin Corwin describing Machine Vision code to the Crypto Robots event created by Kyle Cothern, May 19, 2018. Photo by Crashcam https://flic.kr/p/KcbNv3 
Justin Corwin, March 8, 2009. Photo by Justin https://flic.kr/p/65S2ra 
Justin Corwin, July 25, 2009. Photo by Justin https://flic.kr/p/6JxRrv 
Justin Corwin, wearing Neurosky Mindwave headset, June 25, 2011. Photo by Justin https://flic.kr/p/9WQyGF 
Justin Corwin. Photo by Kyle Cothern 
First CRASH Space meeting at Intelligencia Coffee in Venice CA, October 25, 2009. Photo by Sean Bonner https://flic.kr/p/7auzDJ 
First weekly meeting in the space, December 20, 2009. Photo by Sean Bonner https://flic.kr/p/7piAGB 
CRASH Space group photo following Store Front Music event, August 28, 2010. Photo by Theron Trowbridge https://flic.kr/p/8wi7Jj
I met Justin at Virgin Hyperloop One. I spent very little time with him, but the few interactions that I had with Justin left a strong impression. He was always, kind, polite, and extremely poised. He didn’t make much noise, but if you took the time to ask him questions, you would be exposed to his vast knowledge and expertise. He was great at his work, yet managed to remain utterly unpretentious, which spoke volumes about his maturity of character. I vividly remember an excellent presentation he gave at a weekly event named “Garage Time” about embedded systems. In a world where meetings become these black holes of time and resources, where people present half-baked thoughts and waste your time, his presentation was a breath of fresh air. It was meticulously well-prepared, to-the-point, and he presented it with perfect clarity.
Shortly after I left Hyperloop and decided to embark upon starting my own startup, I invited Justin to grab a beer together in Pasadena in April 2019. I always thought that if and when my startup reaches the stage when I am ready to hire the core team of the first 10-20 people, I would be very lucky to benefit from the expertise and maturity of character of somebody like him. Unfortunately, destiny had other things in mind and I am very sorry such a young, talented, unpretentious, and kind human being had his life cut short in such an untimely fashion. My thoughts are with his friends, family and loved-ones. May his gentle soul rest in peace…