WAGISA In Memory of

Remembering Vanessa Simpson

Christina Chelf — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:19:17 GMT

We are writing to share the sad news that our colleague, Vanessa Simpson, passed away on Sunday, February 15 after a quiet yet courageous fight with cancer.

Vanessa joined the City of Tacoma’s Environmental Services department in 2015 and served as a Senior Technical IT Analyst. In her work, she will be remembered for her innovative spirit, dedication, and the lasting impact she made through her geographic information system (GIS) expertise. Just this past fall, she received the Tacoma GeoMentor Award, which honors exceptional commitment to mentoring and inspiring growth in the GIS community.

More importantly, she will be remembered for her kindness, optimism, and joyful outlook. Outside of work, Vanessa loved running and participating in local races, the ESRI 5K, often inviting colleagues to join her and encouraging others every step of the way.

We’ve created a space for colleagues and community members to share memories, gratitude, and messages of support in honor of Vanessa. The messages will be turned a map collage and given to Vanessa's family at the end of March. If you want your messages to be include please complete by March 20st. https://arcg.is/1eSXau3

Passing of Mike McGuire

Josh Greenberg — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 00:05:46 GMT

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mike McGuire after a courageous fight against cancer. Mike was a huge supporter of WAGISA, both as a board member and the 2021 winner of the Washington GIS person of the year. Mike McGuire’s GIS career included both the public and private sectors and he spent the last 22 years as a successful GIS businessman as the sole proprietor of Ascent GIS. Those of you who had the opportunity to meet Mike know that he always had a smile and a laugh to share. He was amazingly humble, and even as the biggest person in the room, he rarely would draw attention to himself. We are so thankful that Mike was a part of our WAGISA family and he will be greatly missed.

Remembering Darrell Wilson

Christina Chelf — Thu, 12 May 2022 19:35:30 GMT

Darrell was kind, thoughtful, patient, curious, funny, good natured, methodical, intelligent, diligent, dedicated, and so much more.

He studied at UW Tacoma and got his Bachelors in Urban Studies – GIS and Spatial Planning with a GIS Certificate.

He went on to work at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and the City of Seattle.

He interned at the City of Olympia and City of Puyallup and supported a project at the University of Puget Sound.

You will be missed!