Len Sassaman has passed away • Hacker News Board

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#31

Post by jehan » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 7:32 AM UTC

maradydd wrote: post #14

lemmata wrote: post #6

His wife's Twitter account (@maradydd) appears to corroborate this. A tragic loss, especially considering his age (I don't know, but I'd estimate ~35). At that age, it would almost have to be an accident or suicide, and I'm fervently hoping that it was an accident.

Unfortunately no; it was unambiguously suicide. Depression is a horrible, horrible thing, both for those who experience it and the people who love them. Len was a brilliant, sensitive, loving man with the rotten luck to be too tormented by his own brain chemistry to realise how much he was valued by so many people, no matter how often we told him. He was 31.

len was a huge inspiration to me, i am so glad that i got to spend the time with him i did.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#32

Post by billstewart » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 9:41 AM UTC

glob wrote: post #27

I remember Len barking at a squirrel on a tree during one of Cypherpunk gatherings at Stanford campus in early 2000s. It was one of more coherent threads at those meetings.

That's also one of my first memories of Len - mostly he chased it around the tree and then it got really fed up and started yelling at him.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#33

Post by billstewart » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 9:42 AM UTC

maradydd wrote: post #4

I'm his wife. Sadly, the reports are true; I've been visiting family in the States and I got the call from the Leuven police department a couple of hours ago. He was the most brilliant man I ever met, and I still can't believe this is happening.

Meredith, I'm so sorry.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#34

Post by ephermata » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 10:09 AM UTC

pablos08 wrote: post #24

https://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=500467612 I met Len in 1999, he was a kid. A cocky kid who thought he knew everything and I wasn't impressed. I think we were arguing about K of N keysplitting. Rodney Thayer said "Yeah, he's like we were at that age." Rodney was gracious and patient, accepting and loving towards Len and I felt obliged to follow his lead. This is a highly improbable description of Rodney, but it…

Thank you for posting this. Puts into words what I and I expect others are feeling. Sad to think he is gone.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#35

Post by glamrock » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 10:11 AM UTC

Len is such a wonderful person, it's really hard to put into words how much he meant in my life.

He was so incredibly encouraging of taking big leaps and always striving to do courageous things, even if it meant taking on risk. You could always count on him for a totally unvarnished opinion of your code or project, which is both rare and incredibly cherished.

It was amazing to work on a project for two weeks and have him tell you in two minutes what was wrong with it, why, and a better way to do it. For a plebe like me, it meant the world for him to actually take the time and explain things to me.

On top of everything else, he really made a difference at a time when I was struggling with depression.

It just seems like there are not enough words to truly talk about the impact his life had on the world. His legacy is just tremendous.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#36

Post by lemmata » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 11:22 AM UTC

maradydd wrote: post #14

lemmata wrote: post #6

His wife's Twitter account (@maradydd) appears to corroborate this. A tragic loss, especially considering his age (I don't know, but I'd estimate ~35). At that age, it would almost have to be an accident or suicide, and I'm fervently hoping that it was an accident.

Unfortunately no; it was unambiguously suicide. Depression is a horrible, horrible thing, both for those who experience it and the people who love them. Len was a brilliant, sensitive, loving man with the rotten luck to be too tormented by his own brain chemistry to realise how much he was valued by so many people, no matter how often we told him. He was 31.

I am so, so sorry. I only "met" him (online) near the start of June, so it's probably not my place to be sad, but from what little I knew of him, Len was a brilliant, inspiring, and often witty man, and I'm profoundly sorry that this has happened. If there's anything at all that I can do to help, I'd be more than willing.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#37

Post by MajorVariola » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:20 PM UTC

dfc wrote: post #17

I met Len at PET in Toronto. Despite the fact that I was unable to add anything but stupid questions to the conversations Len let me tag along with him for a while. He would take the time to explain things to me that were patently obvious to everyone else taking part in the discussions. I was clearly out of my league but for some reason Len let me listen and occasionally take part in conversations that I only dreamed…

Never met him, but was on the cp list and recognized his name and that he had contributed greatly. I've lost a friend to depression and I have it too; meds can help clamp the extreme lows.

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#38

Post by nostarch » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 7:30 PM UTC

My jaw dropped when I read this. I always looked forward to Len's surprise appearances. He was, without a doubt, one of my favorite people.

I will really miss him.

My thoughts are with you, Meredith.

-- Bill Pollock

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#39

Post by unidark » Tue, Jul 05, 2011, 8:53 PM UTC

maradydd wrote: post #14

lemmata wrote: post #6

His wife's Twitter account (@maradydd) appears to corroborate this. A tragic loss, especially considering his age (I don't know, but I'd estimate ~35). At that age, it would almost have to be an accident or suicide, and I'm fervently hoping that it was an accident.

Unfortunately no; it was unambiguously suicide. Depression is a horrible, horrible thing, both for those who experience it and the people who love them. Len was a brilliant, sensitive, loving man with the rotten luck to be too tormented by his own brain chemistry to realise how much he was valued by so many people, no matter how often we told him. He was 31.

I don't even quite know what to say. I knew Len from back in the mid-90s and had sporadic occasion to correspond with him for the many years after (always via PGP- of course). All I can do is reflect back to tell you that, indeed, he was valued.

- Black Unicorn

Re: Len Sassaman has passed away

#40

Post by JunoMoneta » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 3:16 AM UTC

maradydd wrote: post #14

lemmata wrote: post #6

His wife's Twitter account (@maradydd) appears to corroborate this. A tragic loss, especially considering his age (I don't know, but I'd estimate ~35). At that age, it would almost have to be an accident or suicide, and I'm fervently hoping that it was an accident.

Unfortunately no; it was unambiguously suicide. Depression is a horrible, horrible thing, both for those who experience it and the people who love them. Len was a brilliant, sensitive, loving man with the rotten luck to be too tormented by his own brain chemistry to realise how much he was valued by so many people, no matter how often we told him. He was 31.

I knew Len back from Bar Area cypherpunks days and later CodeCon. He was inspiring and always a clear thinker on topics we discussed. His contributions to liberty and privacy were significant. I will miss him.

JoneMoneta