For space is deep, and good friends are too few

[unixronin]

Many of you, my readers, will be familiar with the Freenode IRC network, and with its "head anarch" and chief architect, Rob Levin (aka lilo).  Rob's vision for Freenode was to make it a place where, counter to conventional IRC metaphors, you could always know who you were talking to, and thus make it a place where distant people could get together to coordinate open-source projects in real time.  But that was only a small part of his dream.

Rob believed in the future of open-source to the extent that he founded a non-profit, the Peer Directed Projects Center, to support and fund open source development.  Freenode is only one of the PDPC's projects.  Eventually, Rob wanted PDPC to be able to sponsor open-source work, and actually pay people to work on open-source projects that were clearly needed but which no-one was working on (or not enough people were working on).

On Tuesday, September 12, while returning from an appointment on his bicycle, Rob was struck by a car driven by an unknown person.  The driver who hit him did not stop, and there are no known witnesses (which is to say, if there were witnesses, none have come forward at this time).  Rob was taken to the neurotrauma intensive care unit of Hermann Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he remained in a coma until this morning.  Sometime this morning, he died without ever regaining consciousness.

So turn down a glass for such as they,
And thank god we're still sitting here
For space is deep, and good friends are too few....

-- "Sam Jones", Leslie Fish

Rob is survived by his wife, Debra, and his six-year-old son, Benjamin.

Comments

[pernishus.livejournal.com]

I am very sorry to hear of your friend's death. The loss of such a person diminishes us all.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

*crash*

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry.....

***crash***

[bfly.livejournal.com]

May he have light for his journey, and may his legacy live on.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

That is just so wrong on so many levels. (Nothing to say, the loss diminishes us in too many ways.)

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

May he rest in peace and be remembered well; may those who knew and loved him find comfort in memory.

Hanging out in #wlug-ma

[richspk.livejournal.com]

Ah. I saw a message thanking the well-wishers, but I didn't know what that was all about.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

oh man, that sucks! my condolances to you and his family!

sam jones is such a great song!