Murray Gauer (1949-2025)

Murray Gauer was webmaster and a director at GGD from about 2003 to 2024.  In his webmaster role, he essentially created our website on its own server, move all the information previously on the FEEHS (Federation of Eastern European Historical Societies) over to it, and populated it with lots of new information that he and Betty had researched.  He was a computer guru and was also a founding member and webmaster of the Black Sea German Research Group (BSGRG) where they have a short obituary about him.   Murray was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1949. His grandfather arrived in Canada in 1890 from Birsula (Kotovsk) 200 kilometers north of Odessa.  His greatest moment in genealogy was finding, by chance, that his family arrived in North America at New York City after searching for them for years in Canada. He has traced his family back through Galicia to Germany in the 1600s. Murray lived near Vancouver in Canada. He had serious medical issues for the last few years.  We lost contact with him in 2024 and only recently found out that he died in March 2025.  If you would like to add a tribute to him below, please contact

 TRIBUTES

Quoting BSGRG: "We are so sad to announce that Murray Gauer, one of the founding members of the Black Sea German Research Group, passed away in March. He was born in Winnipeg, and his Black Sea roots were in Hoffnungstal/Odessa, Birsula, and Nesselrode. His ancestors lived in Galicia before coming to the Black Sea region, and he often helped people explore those roots as well."

Murray was an absolute computer whiz. He would explain something that you could tell was obvious and simple to him, but would absolutely leave your head spinning. In his non-genealogy life, I believe he held at least one (maybe more?) patents on technology-related innovations.
Murray - you'll be missed.

Member G043, Manitoba, Canada 

Murray Gauer introduced me to Galizien German Descendants. Found him when researching Gauer surname (later determined thru Ancestry.com to be similar surname but unrelated at least 7 generations) and he told me about the organization in which I have now been active more than 10 years.  He published his Gauer Family history which is on our GGD website. 

Member G025, Paul Gauer, now President of GGD, New Jersey, USA

Murray was looking for a webmaster assistant in 2007 and I volunteered.  He coached me through the process of updating the website and using his custom made tools, something he had expertise in.  I really appreciated his patient coaching and as his other duties (to Black Sea Germans) took more of his time, I found myself doing most of the GGD work.  In later years his health prevented him from doing more than offering suggestions and critiques on the work GGD was doing.  I last spoke to him 2 years ago when he volunteered to resign from the board of directors due to health concerns.  The GGD website still rests on the foundation that Murray set up.  My condolences to his family.

Member K025, John Kaminski, GGD Webmaster, Ontario, Canada

Although I've never had the pleasure of meeting him in person,  I collaborated with Murray in the early days, including cobbling together the initial website, as I recall. His dedication to the GGD has helped hundreds of family researchers discover their roots, including me. My deepest sympathies to his family and my thanks to all who have continued to keep the GGD alive and thriving. Murray is sorely missed. 

Member L027, Jim Lang, Ontario, Canada