We Have Lost More Than a Developer

We Lost More Than a Developer

Hi there,

Unfortunately, I have to share that the ProxiedMail team has lost more than a developer.

Vitalii had been working on ProxiedMail since 2022, when Alex, the founder of ProxiedMail, offered him a job.

At that point, ProxiedMail had already been running for two years and was off to a good start.

We had to go through a learning curve, as he was a newcomer to software development. He entered the field at the age of 52—and he truly loved it.

He mastered development. He was especially good at frontend work—the part Alex never quite liked.

We combined Alex’s drive for perfection with Vitalii’s ability to learn and execute, working together towards a better product and greater customer satisfaction.

His previous experience was somewhat connected to computers. In 1998, he worked as an administrator with early versions of Windows, MS-DOS, and Norton Commander.

There is also an important detail I should mention: he was the founder’s father.

We did not always have the best relationship, but working together helped us reconnect. Those four amazing years were filled with collaboration and discussion.

It was special to be able to discuss personal life, important decisions, pull requests, and product vision during the same call.

I am not sure whether anyone else has ever experienced something like that. At the time, I do not think I appreciated it enough.

We had some difficult moments while working together, but most of the time, we were able to reach an agreement. My idea would come first, followed by his execution.

His career journey was remarkable. He studied mining in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine, and later worked in the north-east of the Soviet Union.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he moved into education and soon became the deputy director of a vocational school for mining in Donbas, Ukraine.

Later, he became its director.

He had to flee the war that began in his region in 2014. Afterwards, he went to help a friend who ran an auto-service and taxi business.

He liked it at first, but ultimately, it did not work out.

He then returned to his hometown and worked on learning and training programmes for Ukraine’s national postal service.

In 2022, he was about to begin working at the town hall in Sviatohirsk, the town where he worked, but the war interrupted those plans.

He had to move to the capital for a few weeks before returning home, where he completed most of his work for ProxiedMail.

His contribution was impressive. In addition to being an excellent frontend developer, he was also extremely helpful with taxation. He convinced me that we could file our tax reports ourselves, and he studied the subject thoroughly.

Unfortunately, he died from a stroke on 25 July 2026, at the age of 55.

He was an amazing father and, in many ways, a co-founder of ProxiedMail.

He seemed to know something about everything, from physics to religion.

I remember him complaining that I was too curious as a child. When I was around five years old, I would ask him why the sky was blue and how access-control systems for websites worked.

His greatest cultural and spiritual loves were his town and the Church of Sviatohirsk.

Rest in peace, Pa ❤️

And we would also highly appreciate the donate for a humanitarian needs of Ukraine. Civilians aren't protected enough while most of the aid are addressed for a military support. Let me know by email if you're willing to donate and I will look for trustworthy fund.

Feel free to leave your condolences in the blog comments.