Tragic death sparks new internet foundation

Liz Dengate-Thrush remembered.

By Kieren McCarthy in Marrakesh • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 30th June 2006 18:07 GMT

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A new foundation has been created to honour the memory of internet pioneer Liz Dengate-Thrush who died last week in a tragic traffic accident.

The Liz Dengate Thrush Internet Entrepreneurship Foundation was announced in an emotional speech in Marrakech yesterday at the tri-annual meeting of internet overseeing organisation ICANN. Liz Dengate-Thrush was a much-loved figure within the internet community and also the wife of ICANN Board member and specialist net barrister Peter Dengate-Thrush, who returned to New Zealand on the news.

The foundation has been started with a $60,000 donation over three years by the Internet society of New Zealand and will provide grants for the "practical educational advancement of individuals in internet entrepreneurship". ICANN chairman and "father of the Internet" Vint Cerf, himself moved to tears, also pledged $5,000 to the foundation immediately after the announcement.

Liz Dengate-Thrush, her father-in-law, brother-in-law and father-in-law's partner were all killed in a car accident in Wellington on 24 June on a notorious stretch of road. Members of the internet community have been signing letters of condolence all week at the ICANN meeting here in Morocco.