Today we mourn the passing of our good friend Dietmar Stefitz, a legend in European domaining and a wonderful human being.
Dietmar began his career in the textile industry, working as a representative across Europe and Asia. He got into the internet business in 1994, when he launched BemarNet, named for his wife, Beatriz Martinez. This was before most people even used email. In 1999, Dietmar assisted PSINET USA in acquiring 4 Spanish ISPs.
He always saw the online world as part of the “real” world. Dietmar founded Domaining Europe in 2008, which he called “a get-together of some friends who have been in the internet business in Spain”. That event was 30 domainers hanging out at the beach in Valencia, but it was more than that—what Dietmar built was a family of people passionate about the internet industry, and who shared a curiosity about the world.
Everyone who has met Dietmar knows of his kindness and friendliness: he always made newcomers to his gatherings feel like old friends right away. Always a champion of the continent’s domaining scene, Dietmar launched The Name.SHOW in 2016, which brought awareness of the domain name industry as a whole to the rest of the world. He then served as TheDNA’s ambassador to Europe in 2017.
By that time, Domaining Europe had grown, and took place in a different European city each year, from The Hague to Berlin. When Dietmar handed us the reins to his beloved conference in 2018, he was with us every step of the way to share his invaluable knowledge and advice, as well as his friendship.
He is survived by his wife, Beatriz. Born in Austria, Dietmar lived in Spain for over 30 years, speaking Spanish, German, French, and English. Dietmar told Lars Steffen from eco in an interview, “You will recognize the complex diversity in this industry after attending a NamesCon event or ICANN meeting. Without domains, there would be no Internet. Without the Internet, where would the next generation be?”
And where would European domaining be without Dietmar?
Para cada negocio un Dominio y para cada Dominio un negocio!
(For every business a domain, and for every domain a business!)
—Dietmar Stefitz
We’ll miss you, Dietmar. Thanks for everything.
The NamesCon Team: Soeren, Helga, Timo, Jordan, Felix, Alaa, Leah, Johannes, Alexey, Finn, and Martin
