Michael was an amazing person and inspiration. His closing keynotes were always a highlight of the conference and it never failed to amaze that he was able to come up with something new and entertaining every year, even after decades.

Michael inspired me to think more deeply about whatever markup-related thing I was doing. He was such a joyful person—I always felt like he was just having the best time doing whatever he was doing.

During the XML working group time he was always a voice of calm reason, bringing his quiet wisdom to what could be a very fraught and chaotic process.

Michael never sought fame or riches but his contribution to XML and the markup community cannot be overstated.