Michael was a friend and colleague; meeting in the mid-1990's during the days of SGML and the rise of XML. A much younger me once asked him for a recommendation for graduate school for a path not taken (he did help me get accepted). We spent time at various conferences, standards meetings, and W3C TPAC meetings which always followed with lovely dinner discussions. He was a kind, observant, and insightful person. There was a time, one that may never have passed, where we all looked forward to his closing keynotes. He would walk around the conference with a little notebook, taking notes, talking to whomever, and the result was a gracious and salient composition of the important takeaways; all stitched together into a neat and impressive train of thought. Secretly, if you made it into his closing remarks, it was a nod and a "well done, you!"

We had just talked briefly at the online Balisage conference. It was too short of a chat. I thought there would be a next time. It is always too soon; farewell my friend.