Ezra Zygmuntowicz, creator of Merb and co-founder of Engine Yard, has passed away.
Some notes from
Hacker News:
"He was funny, patient, and most of all kind."
"We [left Engine Yard for] our own colo but Ezra helped us at every step of the way, long after it was clear we weren't coming back."
From @antirez: "Ezra was the first to start making Redis popular..."
"Ezra was a innovator in the glass pipe world. A world class artist that reinvented lampworking."
"He used to fly little radio controlled helicopters all over our office at Engine Yard."
I had a conference call with Ezra in 2006 as part of a project and was a total fanboy about it. His work on the Yakima Herald, before he founded Engine Yard, was one of the main things that made me start taking Rails seriously back in those days, back before the hype train really even began. One time we shared a car to the airport after a conference, and of course I saw him at a ton of conferences beyond that as well. He was a very cool guy, and he'll be missed.