November 8, 2009 is the day (or so I am told) when one of the Internet’s finest souls shuffled off this mortal coil. I didn’t know Dan well, but we interacted regularly online, and he was a great guy — both a pillar of the online Battletech community and one of the best website developers I have known. He was a tireless advocate for good website design, a scholar and a gentleman, and I was proud to call him peer and friend.

He died far too young, due to complications from influenza and pneumonia. The best information I have puts him at only thirty years of age.

So why am I posting about it on November 25th? Frankly, the news shook me, and I hadn’t felt up to writing his eulogy. Even now, words fail me — but to let his passing go unmentioned seems by far the greater crime.

Rest In Peace, Albatross. I will miss you.