I cannot believe that Michael is not with us anymore. I cannot, because it is not quite true: Michael is still with us, and will be forever. He has sown beautiful and powerful flowers - some of which could be called ideas, or insights - in the hearts and minds of all who knew him. More importantly, he has been an example and an inspiration of humanity, wisdom, elegance, and gentleness in letting those flowers grow and spawn new flowers of their own. I think all who have known him - closely or not - have in one way or another become (perhaps even without realizing it) better scholars, better researchers, better practitioners, or just better human beings.

I heard and read about Michael ever since my initial encounters with the idea of descriptive markup in 1991 (in fact, I cited his SGML'92 trip report in 1992). I first met him in person in 2005 at Extreme in Montreal. I was both thrilled and intimidated. Seeing him interact with each and every presenter, I was immediately struck by the breadth and profoundness of his understanding of how information works. And I was instantly conquered by his closing speech, of which I became a shameless addict.

I later had the privilege of working in close collaboration with him for a few years, and he never ceased to astonish me by his knowledge, culture, and his incredible ability to "get things done" (for lack of a better wording) in all contexts. After that period, I occasionally contacted him to get his opinion on various things. He always generously provided thorough, insightful, and enlightening answers.

We have lost a giant.

Farewell, Michael, and takk for alt!

To me, anyway, this picture has value. It was taken during TEI Members meeting in Zadar, Croatia, in November 2010.