It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Valentin T. Pentchev, IUNI’s IT Director, on New Year’s Eve at the age of 48. Val, as we knew him, was kind, positive, entrepreneurial, and a consummate networker — of people, ideas, and technologies.
He is survived by his wife, Liana Apostolova, faculty at the IU School of Medicine, and his sons Julian and Martin Pentchev. Val was passionate about so many things: food, travel, cars, technology, bespoke cocktail recipes, and his Bulgarian heritage. We will miss his infectious enthusiasm.
Val was the first staff person hired at IUNI nearly seven years ago, and he has had a hand in almost every major project we have ever undertaken. We will move forward to support the projects he cared about so deeply, including the Collaborative Archive & Data Research Environment and the Observatory on Social Media, but we know it will not be the same without him.
You may find Val’s obituary listed at Forest Lawn Funeral Home of Greenwood, where you can leave a message for his family and see service details. Memorial contributions to continue Val’s legacy may be made to the Bulgarian Cultural Society Foundation.
Val’s colleagues at the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub have penned a tribute to Val’s participation in the Hub community.
If you have an ongoing project you were working on with Val and you need assistance, please email us at iuni@iu.edu and we will work to support you.