Obituary for
Michael Eugene Fahrenkrog
Michael Eugene Fahrenkrog, 52, beloved husband and devoted father, brother, and son unexpectedly left this world on December 13, 2017 after a brief illness.
Mike was born in Bad Kreuznach, Germany on March 28, 1965, a gift to his parents on their first wedding anniversary. Though his adolescence and young adulthood were spent in Walnut Creek, California, Mike’s childhood in St. Louis and Minnesota produced an outgoing, amiable Midwesterner who could talk to any person from any walk of life about virtually any topic.
After attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science at UC San Diego, Mike graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law, where he met his wife, Yvette Lindgren. Shortly after their wedding, they spent a long summer walking 1,100 miles along the Appalachian Trail, where together they envisioned a shared life that included pursuing meaningful livelihoods and raising a close-knit family.
Upon their return, Mike developed his love of computer science. He taught himself to code, researching in the evenings, and worked as a software developer for twenty-five years, most recently as a performance architect at Relay Health. Mike developed software for health information technology and was famously patient and tolerant of the fact that no one he loved could ever fully explain how he earned his living. Mike never stopped learning new technologies, most recently teaching himself to program for AI (Artificial Intelligence) in his spare time. He generously applied his technology skills as a volunteer in many capacities, including serving as webmaster for nonprofit organizations over the years, including Children’s International Summer Village (CISV), the PTA for his daughters’ schools, and Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.
Mike’s interests included hiking, listening to podcasts, attending concerts, and reading widely in a variety of genres and disciplines. A single conversation with Mike could be vast enough to encompass ideas from The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Scientific American, and the writings of Kirk Vonnegut, Neil deGrasse Tyson, or Margaret Atwood. More than genre or author or band, Mike was interested in reading and listening to what his friends and loved ones did as a way to know them better.
Mike lived a daily life that was both exuberant and deliberate. He loved supporting the aspirations of the women in his life, who survive him: his wife Yvette —for whose career path he was a cornerstone—and his three daughters, Olivia (18), Sophia (16), and Claudia (13). Mike’s daughters’ collective tenacity, earnestness, intelligence, and compassion are all variations on their father’s song, and his memory will continue to live vibrantly through their ideas and words and deeds.
Mike is survived by his father, Alan Fahrenkrog, his brother, Mark Fahrenkrog; his sister-in-law Marlene (Beaston) Fahrenkrog, and his niece Anna (17). One of Mike’s chief joys was being surrounded by his family, both at special occasions and when the men could catch a moment for a weekday movie night or an early morning breakfast at Millie’s Kitchen before work. He is preceded in death by his beloved mother, Rosemarie Fahrenkrog.
Services will be held at 3:00 on January 21, 2018, with a reception immediately following, at the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church, 55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek, CA. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Doctors Without Borders in Mike’s memory.
