It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Tony English, one of the founding mentors of FRC Team 4499, The Highlanders.
In Fall of 2024, Tony started his battle with cancer. Despite an incredibly positive response to early treatments, unexpected complications hit fast, and the cancer was just too aggressive.
Tony was more than a mentor—he was a visionary, engineer, leader, and friend. Through his tireless work, he gave hundreds of students the tools to build robots, discover STEM, and most importantly, believe in themselves.
Tony didn’t just teach us how to build machines. He taught us how to lead with humility, persevere through failure, and dream without limits. He helped shape our team—and who we are as people. And, “it’s more than robots”.
His legacy will live on in every student he inspired, every bot built, and every spark he lit in the next generation of innovators. We will carry his mission forward with pride.
A Mechanical Engineer and Officer with the 244th Core of Engineers, Tony served in Iraq and was decorated with 2 bronze stars. Upon his return in 2004, he started Neaera Consulting with his wife, and built his dream shop and our (4499) second home. In 2004 he started the Highlanders, a local FLL team that later evolved into FRC 4499 in 2013 (with coaching FTC teams as well). A true believer in the mission and values of FIRST, this season marked Tony’s 20th year mentoring and volunteering with FIRST. In 2015 he was honored with the WFFA award at the Colorado Regional. In 2022 Tony became the executive director of Colorado FIRST.
Outside of FIRST, Tony remained committed to ensuring student success and program sustainability. Neaera Consulting is a leader in connected and autonomous vehicle technologies and has served as a wellspring of opportunities for both our team and alumni. Through Neaera, Tony was able to hire dozens of Highlander students to work on professional projects as interns. Additionally, many Highlander alumni have come back to the company after college to work with Tony on solving some of the toughest problems in the connected vehicle space as full time engineers.
Throughout a students time on the Highlanders, Tony encouraged all of us to be mindful of the friendships and relationships we built on the team. He deeply believed that learning to work alongside other talented people and master “playing in the sandbox” was one of the most valuable skills we could teach on the team. To this end, Tony encouraged students and alumni to stay connected to one another and with the team. He often spoke of the “Cycle of Success” a process in which students could give back and train the next generation.
Tony’s next vision was creating a Center of Excellence, a place where students and young adults could come together not just to learn, but to invent, build, and explore.
He imagined a space filled with energy and purpose, and lots of loud machine sounds! He wanted to create a place where young people, no matter their background, could learn to code, machine, wire, weld, and dream big.
It wasn’t just about robotics or technology. It was about giving every student the opportunity to realize their potential, to turn “what ifs” into “look what I made.”
In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made to Neaera Robotics, to continue the work Tony cared so deeply about and making this center of excellence. Let’s carry forward his legacy to continue inspire youth!
From his wife, Debbie, mentor of 4499.
We lost an amazing human, my husband, best friend, business partner, father, mentor and friends to so many.
After 31 years of marriage, 3 wonderful kids, many business adventures and a life mentoring students in robotics, I will need to find a way to continue his revolutionary vision and legacy.
I will need help from this amazing community to finish what we started. The thought of continuing this vision of a Center of Excellence is daunting and overwhelming to me right now. But I feel he gave me the tools, strength and friends to continue his legacy.
If you knew Tony, please join us celebrating him on June 28th. Details on this are here on our website. To donate to his vision go to this page.
