I’ve only been around a little while, but I know how close-knit this place is. My heart goes out to Rodney’s family, and all that knew him here. My deepest condolences.

Can’t think of anything appropriate to say, beyond the obvious…this is incredibly sad news.

My sympathy goes out to his wife.

“There was a time when he was not among us and that time has come again, and we are fortunate to have been here in between.”
(paraphrased eulogy given at the end of St. Elsewhere)

This truly is heart sinking news.  It goes to show that one can never judge somebody or their existance by the surface alone.  He *will* be missed, and perhaps had he genuinely understood that things may have been different.

All of your words and kindness are welcome surrounding otherwise sad, dark news.

Our Condolences from Ireland.  May his contributions to The Mac World and the Universe be remembered.

I really don’t know what to say. iBrotha was one of the best parts of the MacAddict website back when it was at it’s most vibrant. When he left and joined MacObserver, I followed along, and made MacObserver part of my reading habits as well.

I valued the insight, and the quality of his writings, both in his opinions, and as his MacDaddy alter ego. Even if we didn’t see eye-to-eye on all issues, I respected his stand on them. I’m glad I let him know that from time to time.

He’ll be sorely missed.

Wow, such disconcerting news. It reminds us how cruel life can be; for everybody.

I knew Rodney from his online writings, some e-mail and some instant messaging. I appreciated his energy, creativity and ability to get a reaction out of other people with his editorials.

Whether you agreed with him or not, reading his online work was fun, and I enjoyed chatting with him online. He was able to make sense and to keep things in perspective when discussions were hot.

My sympathies to his family.

I don’t want to believe this has anything more to it today than it did on any other, but it does hit the spot for saying who he is, only in part, of course.

[MacSpirit] Weaning you off the Kool-Aidâ„¢ :
Fallacies of Christianity… and the Mac religion
by Rodney O. Lain
<http://www.applelinks.com/macspirit/koolaid.shtml>

Rodney was here in Miami a few months back, and I shall forever remember the biggest grin I’ve seen on any face, in a particular incident while we were out one night enjoying - uh…the sites of Miami.
- -

To be certain you get to read more of the iBrotha, here are links to his writing, which I believe we can use to continue our admiration for him. They’re just the primary links, and there’s a lot out there, particularly in forums, so dig in.

His website is <http://www.ibrotha.com>

But on Applelinks, he has MacSpirit, <http://www.applelinks.com/macspirit/archive.shtml>

And on MacObserver, <http://www.macobserver.com/columns/ibrotha/index.html>

Looked quickly on MacAddict, but searches didn’t seem to pull up relevant links.

GooeyMac

What is there to say?

It’s just so sad…

This is awful. I am so sorry.

How I’ll remember Rodney

For me, Rodney epitomized the Mac community as I see it: intellectual, cooperative, friendly, creative, selfless, open-minded, in-touch with many views of reality.  He really helped me out with my transition from Wintel to Mac, and I’ve been grateful to him (among others at TMO) ever since. 

And what a great mind!  Those of you who have read his articles know what I mean.  He’s the only writer that I know of who comparatively analyzed developments in the computer industry with developments in other areas of life, such as race relations.  You don’t have to agree with his viewpoints to know how uncommon was Rodney’s area of inquiry.

Along those lines, if you’ve never read Rodney’s master’s thesis, go to the website and check it out. 

It saddens me that Rodney felt so hopeless and that he’s gone.  In whichever state of existence he’s in now, I wish him eternal bliss.

The iBrotha is gone but his spirit will live on.

I was lucky enough to work with Rodney as well as be friends with him - seeing the best of Minneapolis nightlife on more than one occasion. I knew him better than some, not as well as others. He was a charismatic guy who wasn’t the least bit worried about speaking his mind. His swagger and passion for certain things in his life was admirable.

That’s what I liked about Rodney.

My most recent iBrotha memory…
We were suppose to go golfing a few weekends ago but the SOB blew me off at the last minute - something about just rolling out of bed from a late night. I chewed his ass on his timing and in pure iBrotha style, he shot back saying he would have destroyed me anyway and I was just avoiding total embarrassment. That was so classic Rodney.

We were going to reconnect this month -
I guess you owe me one, my friend.

RIP

I met Rodney electronically after joining the MacObserver forums. Our contact was limited to the sharing of thoughts and ideas and a few things we both thought were funny. Since last night I’ve struggled with something that isn’t funny. The loss of a good man to a disease that in modern times runs at epidemic levels in our society, destroying lives and families.

I enjoyed reading Rodney’s written work and appreciated his gift of himself in the thoughts and ideas he shared in his columns and his spirited comments in forum posts. Rodney was a passionate man, a thinker, a believer and someone willing to give of himself to enrich the lives of others.

I will miss Rodney’s unique brand of genius and his artful use of his extraordinary intellect that made him a Mac celebrity. His passing is a painful reminder of the tenderness of life and that beautiful things in this world should not be taken for granted.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who knew and loved Rodney in a most personal way, especially Irma, his beloved wife, the person whom he loved most and chose to share the journey of life.

Rodney, may you now be at peace and may the gifts that you gave to each of us in your writing and insights continue to enrich the lives of the members of the online communities to which you gave your time, shared your talent and provided much needed support.

You are missed.

Robert

[quote author=“DawnTreader”]I met Rodney electronically after joining the MacObserver forums. Our contact was limited to the sharing of thoughts and ideas and a few things we both thought were funny. Since last night I’ve struggled with something that isn’t funny. The loss of a good man to a disease that in modern times runs at epidemic levels in our society, destroying lives and families.

I enjoyed reading Rodney’s written work and appreciated his gift of himself in the thoughts and ideas he shared in his columns and his spirited comments in forum posts. Rodney was a passionate man, a thinker, a believer and someone willing to give of himself to enrich the lives of others.

I will miss Rodney’s unique brand of genius and his artful use of his extraordinary intellect that made him a Mac celebrity. His passing is a painful reminder of the tenderness of life and that beautiful things in this world should not be taken for granted.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who knew and loved Rodney in a most personal way, especially Irma, his beloved wife, the person whom he loved most and chose to share the journey of life.

Rodney, may you now be at peace and may the gifts that you gave to each of us in your writing and insights continue to enrich the lives of the members of the online communities to which you gave your time, shared your talent and provided much needed support.

You are missed.

Robert

Well said. 

Being a flaming liberal, I disagreed with Rodney 99 44/100% of the time, so Raena can cross me off her list. But Lord, this is sad news. My condolences to all his friends and family.

The Beast claims thousands of lives every year, and lays waste to millions more. I’ve lost friends to It myself. My heart goes out to you all.

If I may be so bold, I’d like to suggest a book, Darkness Visible, novelist William Styron’s memoir of his own struggle with depression. Those of you who were close to Rodney might find it, if not comforting, at least illuminating, if you find yourself grappling with feelings of confusion—or even anger—in the coming weeks.

I’m shocked to hear this. . As many here I only knew Rodney online, but he was a major influence in the way TMO has been the last year. I’m sure he’ll be missed, not only by those he loved and those who loved him, but also by a large group of people who have known him only through posted messages, or editorials. He was special in the way he could write things, make a point, or simply use a few quotes to make the article interesting.

As another human I’m of course hit by the fact that he had chosen to take his own life. As someone who’s had a serious depression, I’ve had those thoughts too, I just never did it.

I’m sorry to hear that Rodney saw no other way out of his trouble other then taking his own life. If he would have come forward with it, I’m sure a huge number of ppl here at TMO would have done everything the could to help him.

Rodney, I hope you can find the rest you couldn’t find in your life here.