Pharyngula

Posted by: SC | August 4, 2008 11:49 AM

That is terrible news. My condolences to all who knew and loved him.

Posted by: Blake Stacey | August 4, 2008 11:50 AM

Rest in peace, good fellow.

Posted by: Alex | August 4, 2008 11:53 AM

Best wishes to those who knew him.

Posted by: Michelle | August 4, 2008 11:58 AM

Cancer's a bitch. Always sad to hear such things.

Posted by: Anne | August 4, 2008 12:01 PM

My condolences to his family, friends and all who knew him. May they find some peace.

Posted by: techskeptic | August 4, 2008 12:07 PM

cue trolls with their "This is God's way of giving atheists what they deserve" type of rhetoric, like they did to P-Momma.

I'm sorry to hear about this, best wishes for the family.

Posted by: Paul Lundgren | August 4, 2008 12:14 PM

I think a round of contributions to the American Cancer Society might be in order.

Posted by: Paul Lundgren | August 4, 2008 12:16 PM

Sorry guys, disregard my previous post. The correct URL is http://www.cancer.org. My mistake.

Dr. Myers, if you would delete the previous post of mine. Thanks.

Posted by: Schmeer | August 4, 2008 12:23 PM

I'll be raising a pint in memory of his contribution to rationality.

Posted by: denise | August 4, 2008 12:24 PM

this is sad news. I hope that he is remembered well and that he was able to get in as much fun as he could while living.

Posted by: Miss Infidel | August 4, 2008 12:34 PM

We seem to be losing everyone to cancer these past few weeks. How sad. My condolences to those who knew and loved him

Posted by: Orac | August 4, 2008 12:40 PM

Ah, hell, that was faster than even I expected.

Because BCS was originally scheduled to host the Skeptics' Circle on July 31, I had been in contact with him in early June, not long after he had announced his diagnosis, to deal with the unpleasant task of asking him if he still wanted to host. I also offered to help line him up with a liver surgeon, which is why he told me how advanced his tumor was. After he told me, I knew he was not going to survive. I just expected that he'd probably have at least a couple more months.

Being a cancer surgeon and knowing too much can sometimes be a bitch.

Posted by: Derek Colanduno | August 4, 2008 12:56 PM

Ya,

I had just communicated with him not too many weeks ago myself. He was still pretty confident and hopeful then. When I got the e-mail from his wife, I was kind of in shock. At least I got to have dinner with him when he stopped through Atlanta on his way home from TAM 5.5. We had a great dinner and conversation, and he was very excited to be coming out to Dragon*Con to do some lectures and hang out with all of us again. So damn sad, and a loss to me personally.

He will be remembered...

Posted by: me | August 4, 2008 1:34 PM

This is terrible. I always feel such loss when a bright mind dies. I also feel anger, as in why haven't we beaten this shit yet? Sometimes I hate my job.

My deepest condolences to his friends and family.

Posted by: Michael X | August 4, 2008 1:45 PM

How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner
As he bends in still grief o'er the hallowed bier,
As enanguished he turns from the laugh of the scorner,
And drops to perfection's remembrance a tear;

My condolences for the dear loss to this family.

Posted by: Grumpy | August 4, 2008 2:11 PM

Jeff took the lead in organizing meetups in Anchorage earlier this year. We only met twice before more urgent matters intervened. In those two meetings, I found Jeff to be as sincere and thoughtful as he came across on his blog. I'm sorry I couldn't get to know him better.

The group he started is still active, though, and we should probably arrange another meeting in his memory. If someone hasn't thought of that already.

Posted by: Dianne | August 4, 2008 2:27 PM

In some ways atheism sucks. I'd like to think that BCS was in a better world now, enjoying his afterlife. But I just don't believe it and don't see any advantage to pretending that it is so when it clearly isn't. Instead I'd rather work on finding better ways to treat the disease that killed him and try to prevent the next death: to provide real help instead of false hope. My condolences to his family, friends, and readers.

Posted by: truth machine, OM | August 4, 2008 2:53 PM

Why couldn't have been you? Maybe next time.

Christianity is love, eh?

RIP, BCS.

Posted by: epsilon | August 4, 2008 3:04 PM

"Why couldn't have been you? Maybe next time."
Larry in #32

Because your god's aim sucks.

Posted by: MH | August 4, 2008 3:55 PM

My condolences to his friends and family, and my thanks to all the scientists who are working towards a cure for cancer.

Posted by: Kobra | August 4, 2008 4:39 PM

George Carlin, Randy Pausch, Jeff Medkeff... damn you, Kira!

In all seriousness, my condolences go out to the family. I know the lame anime joke above is probably very inappropriate, but it seems like the best people are dying rapidly.

Posted by: Kate | August 4, 2008 5:34 PM

My condolences to his family, friends and all who loved Blue Collar Scientist.

"Weep not for he who's time has come to an end, but for those who, left behind, must learn to live again."*

BCS, I choose to celebrate your life today. I am going outside right now to sit in my garden and watch the butterflies and bees dawdle among the flowers, watch the clouds pass over my head, and spend a quiet moment celebrating the precious fragility of life in all it's beauty and wonder.

* I don't remember the author of that quote, but it has stuck with me for years.

Posted by: Becca | August 4, 2008 6:07 PM

Oh, so sorry to hear it. Thanks for letting us know. My deepest condolences to his family.

Posted by: scotth | August 4, 2008 6:31 PM

I am the same age as BCS (39) and my wife and I only have one parent left between us. They've all fallen to cancer. All of them, but especially my mother maintained a bit of fantasy world them about their likely prognosis and things in general. It seemed they used the skills they learned with religious belief to keep their head in the sand a really long time. It was painful to watch and wasn't able to discuss many thing with my mother that I would have liked to. By the time there was recognition there was very little time left to have all those coversations. My mother was still discussing what we were going to do when she got better just 4 days before her end.

I always thought that I would behave differently. On the other hand, it is easy to think something like that until one is actually in the same position.

I drove down from Dallas and saw BCS at the M.D. Anderson center in Houston July 6th. (Aren't I glad I took that opportunity now?) He was frank about his situation, faced it head on, and still remained very positive. If living indefinitely was out of his reach, well, he could happily focus on making what was left as pleasant and rich as possible. We mostly talked about other things. We have a lot of have many interests that overlap or are on close tangents. It was an excellent afternoon. I left thinking, this is exactly who I should emulate if I am ever in as dire a situation. It sounded like even his oncologist found him a breath of fresh air.

The timing is quite a shock. Jeff seemed to think that being around long enough to make dragon-con was a reasonable task, making next's year TAM was not. I guess things reached a tipping point sooner than expected. I never heard anything else after his July 12th 'onco' blog saying he was home in AK.

My condolences to his wife (who I only met the once in Houston) and family.

Posted by: DLC | August 4, 2008 8:10 PM

My condolences to his family and friends.
Never a good thing to lose someone.

and for "Larry": your Christian Love is duly noted.
Now go jump down a well.

Posted by: szqc | August 4, 2008 8:50 PM

I should add that asteroid "41450 Medkeff" is a nice legacy to Jeff's scientific influence; small comfort to his family and close friends right now but may we all be so diligent in science.

Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | August 4, 2008 10:42 PM

Sincere condolences to BCS's family and friends. He will be missed.

Posted by: Roger Scott | August 4, 2008 10:58 PM

Very sad news. I was rather shocked to hear of Jeff's passing. He was one of the good guys of the web. Condolences to his family.

Posted by: Older | August 5, 2008 7:50 PM

I am old, older, older than that even. But I have lost two children to cancer, when they were about BCS' age. One of them, my daughter, was really the heart of the family, and we lost that heart. The other, my son -- I still cry when I think of his daughter saying, "How can my daddy be dead? I'm only nine!

Oh, I have plenty of kids left. But when you lose any one of them, you lose everything. And worst of all, it can happen again and again. My condolences to BCS' parents.