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Author: Subject: Magpie has died
Polverone
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sad.gif posted on 12-12-2019 at 14:41
Magpie has died


I was contacted by his son today. Magpie passed away yesterday at the age of 77.

He wrote:

Quote:

I wanted to share the news with the forum members. He respected them and loved having a group of people to socialize with who understood him. They really meant a lot to him.

Since his retirement as an engineer he spent an enormous amount of time and energy on his chemistry work, and found great joy from the interaction with your forum. He made genuine friends from this group, and was intellectually stimulated beyond comprehension.


Magpie was one of our most long-established members and brightest lights. He will be sorely missed.

EDIT: I briefly spoke to his son last night. I will be attending Magpie's funeral, probably some time next week. If you would like to share any condolences or fond memories with his family, email me (gfxlist at yahoo.com). I would appreciate it if people share some coarse grained details about their location, like their country (or state, if living in the US) so that it's clear just how broadly Magpie was appreciated. I will print out what I receive and bring it with me to the funeral.


[Edited on 12-13-2019 by Polverone]




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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 14:50


Too bad.. Condolences to everyone.
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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 15:20


So sad. My jaw just hit the floor. Wiping away tears.
My sympathies to his family and close friends.
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WGTR
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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 15:23


Aww, heck. Sorry to hear that. I always enjoyed his posts and keen insight.



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clearly_not_atara
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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 15:30


It's awesome that this forum can attract people like Magpie. He helped elevate the discussion here above our being a bunch of young adults with crazy schemes. His posts were a joy to read and I will miss seeing him on here.



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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 16:23


Should we give deceased members a deceased status so newer members will know that they will no longer post because they passed away?

RIP btw. You will be missed.

[Edited on 191213 by fusso]




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j_sum1
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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 16:42


Quote: Originally posted by fusso  
Should we give deceased members a deceased status so newer members will know that they will no longer post because they passed away?

Nope. We cannot possibly hope to apply that consistently.
Magpie deserves his own special status anyway.
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Metacelsus
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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 17:48


Noooooo!

Magpie will be dearly missed.




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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 17:54


One of the greats on this forum, always good contributions.



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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 18:13


Damn. He shall be missed.



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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 18:52


I too will miss Magpie,
one of the first members to make me feel welcome here.




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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 19:11


What a shame. he was always informative and interesting.



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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 19:44


What terrible and devastating news. Magpie and I exchanged email messages over the years which I really enjoyed. Several times I sent him samples of things for his experiments for which he was always grateful. I only wish I could have met him personally. His contributions were always of the highest quality and his comments to others were helpful and without any malice. I believe he epitomized the very best of the hobby scientist. He will be missed.

A sad day, indeed.

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[*] posted on 12-12-2019 at 21:18


All I know of Magpie lives in my imagination, fed by words on a screen. I did not expect to feel as saddened by his passing as I do. He will be missed.

It is interesting how much respect, integrity, and admiration an anonymous person can cultivate on the internet despite how often those traits are disregarded by so many others.
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 00:41


I also received the message yesterday evening and I really had a difficult time to deal with it. Maybe Magpie's son comes on the forums, I made an account for him.

Magpie has done a lot for the home science community and I always was impressed by what he achieved as an amateur. He was pursuing real engineering results and put great effort in that. But he also was very good at communicating the results and providing us with good and detailed descriptions of how he achieved things. He will be sorely missed over here!

From this place I want to express my condolences to Magpie's son and other family and friends!




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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 01:31


i'm really sad. prepublications is full of his work, i always admired what he did, in my opinion he should be the definition of home chemist.





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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 02:22


Oh, dear Magpie,

I missed your posts for a while and was wondering what happened to you and your contributions but did not think of anything serious.
When I praised Boffis' work on DEET hydrolisys a few days ago I actually wanted to compare his work to your great prepub writings. But again, something prevented me from bringing up your name...

In these days I accidentally came across videos and writings on near death experiences, reincarnation stories and such. These stories really help to view our life (and death) from a different angle. Now, thinking of you, if half of those stories are true then you are in a very good place in a very good company now!

You will be remembered in our circles from your work of high standards and friendly, non-offensive, no-nonsense behaviour.
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 02:42


A great loss. While i never interacted much with him i always thought of him as a model amateur chemist to be looked up too.
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 03:12


That's unfortunate I will miss his contributions here. I hope he died peacefully and not in pain.

My condolences to his family.

Perhaps we could arrange an ecard that all who want to can sign it and have it sent to his son.




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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 03:17


:-(
I hope that his friends and family get some consolation from knowing how well loved he was here.
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 04:12


That is really sad news.
Condolences from me to his family as well :(
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 04:14


I only knew him through his contribution on the forum and feel very sad for the loss of such a brilliant mind.



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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 05:48


The man had my respect.
He greatly added to this forum and my life.
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 07:50


Such a gift to our forum and community as a whole. I suspect his posts will continue to mentor future generations on this site for a long while to come.
You will be missed, greatly.
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[*] posted on 13-12-2019 at 08:41


I just heard about Magpie and while I did not know him personally as well as many others on here, I always enjoied his contributions and posts. It is a sad day for Sciencemadness. If his family looks here, we send our sympathy and condolences.
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