The Institute of Computer Science is in mourning. An excellent colleague, a good friend, a valued lecturer, Eno Tõnisson, has left us.
Eno Tõnisson acquired a bachelor's degree in 1992 and his master's degree in mathematics three years later at the University of Tartu, and defended a PhD degree in informatics at the Institute of Computer Science in 2017.
Eno Tõnisson devoted much of his life to teaching, doing so with enchanting passion, inspiring so many learners. Eno was repeatedly chosen as the best lecturer at both, the Institute of Computer Science and the University at large. He received a number of prizes for his excellent work, for example, he was awarded a substantial teaching grant at the university in 2015, a badge of honour at the University of Tartu in 2016, and, in the same year, the Ministry of Education and Research awarded him with the title of the Lecturer of the Year.
Eno was a much liked figure at the University, and also with the broader public and in 2016, he and his colleagues began organising programming courses over web that became hugely popular with the thousands of people who participated over the years. The course “Basics of Programming,” which was the first open e-course with free access (MOOC) to the University of Tartu to be taught in Estonian, received the Estonian e-University Consortium's annual e-course award in 2016.
Colleagues and students at the Institute of Computer Science talked and still talk about Eno in superlatives. He has supervised over a hundred students’ thesis, and students have chosen him as their favourite and most humorous lecturer. Eno always brought excitement to his colleagues' day -- his loud voice and infectious laughter echoing across the floor. Eno himself has said that while he was still teaching at school, he was once asked to speak in a quieter voice because there was a test being carried out at the other end of the corridor.
His closest colleagues miss him deeply: “... his infectious laughter, and how, even when he had a hard time himself, he always found time and strength to take an interest in other’s well-being. We shall always remember his sentence: “It is good that you are not bored, for boredom makes people act foolishly!” “Eno has left a huge hole in our hearts,” says Piret Luik, a member of Eno’s working group.
We are all in deep sorrow at the early departure of such an excellent person. Words cannot express our deepest sympathies to Eno's wife, children, and the whole family. We want you to find peace in your grief and thoughts at this difficult time.