Very sad passing of @jonathon

Garuda Community
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It is with great sadness that I must pass along the news that on January 07, 2023 @Jonathon passed away. Jonathon Fernyhough was very well known within the Arch community as he helped out on many Linux projects. Jon always found the time to help new Linux users learn the ropes on their Linux journey. He was a big part of our forum (and other Linux forums) and was always willing to share his vast wealth of knowledge with others. The community has lost a great contributor, and a good friend to many.

Our condolences go out to Jon's family and all those close to him.

Jonathon Osborne Fernyhough

March 1982 - Jan 2023

Jonathon Fernyhough-Trustee

Jon will be sorely missed.

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Deine Wege enden hier
Unsere führen noch weiter
Wir werden deinen Pfaden folgen
zu Hunderten, zu Tausenden
Ein Denkmal in unseren Köpfen
Wir werden dich nicht vergessen.

Your paths end here
Ours lead even further
We will follow your paths
by hundreds, by thousands
A monument in our minds
We will not forget you.

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I very much hope he rests in piece. I always considered @jonathon one of the most valuable people to ask for advice and looked up to him. He will be missed indeed :pensive:

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They always say that everyone is replaceable,
but that's not true of Jonathan.

R.I.P.

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Countless folks who did not even know him have been touched by his extensive knowledge and his unrelenting helpfulness, in this and many other forums, and with the hundreds of packages he maintained, repos he cared for, and projects he contributed to. The community has truly lost a pillar.

Rest in peace @jonathon.

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Although I didn't know him "directly", I remember him from my first read posts as one of the kindest, most patient and attentive people to "teach" rather than only support.
His tutorials on packages and AUR packages issues, which explained so well the origin of the problems in addition to how to solve them, literally attracted me to this forum in the early days. So I must say that I also owe a lot to him for my presence here.

May the earth be light to you @jonathon .

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I still have a treatise prepared several years ago by @jonathon entitled "All About Tea" a topic totally not about Linux but it speaks for the willingness in which he shared his knowledge with someone--me--who knew nothing.

Jonathon was an educator of the first water.

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Hi everyone, so yesterday, I was fooling around the forums, just replying here and there, and out of nowhere, I came across this news, from staff talk thread, thanks @BluishHumility for bringing this out. I went to a sudden deep shock on hearing this, and my brain stopped working for a few moments. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't rest. My brain just jammed. So, I am writing this post now.

Also, thanks @tbg for this topic.

Half of my brain along with my heart still refuses to admit he is no longer among us. I am still in deep shock.

I don't know what to write. I am seeing his picture for the very first time itself. Thanks @tbg for attaching his photo.

He was really very close to me. He was like a mentor, a guide for me.
Anytime I wanted any guidance related to Linux or tech in general, which couldn't be searched on any search engine, I knew whom to ask.

I very frequently had brief talks with him, on forums and on telegram.
Recently, around a couple of months back, he told the staff members that he was going on break, and will not be contributing much to the community, all of us told him to take rest and take care.

I didn't even imagine in my farthest dream that he was ill. He was in his early forties man...

You know what I liked the most about him : his egoless and selfless attitude.
He always used to guide me, however noob I was. He didn't care how much effort he has to make, if it helped others.
I came to know that he maintained close to 200 packages in AUR, which left me wondering : how can this guy be so good developer, have so many works, but not even a pinch of ego. I am still wondering.

He was my close friend, my mentor and my guide. He helped not only me, but thousands of Linux users, especially Arch Linux and distro based on it.

He is still one of the most respected developers in Arch Linux community.

He helped Garuda Linux a lot to become what it is today. He also helped a lot of other Arch based distros.

Thanks @jonathon for your contribution. Your void can never be filled in my heart. I will always remember you. May your soul rest in peace.

:cry:

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Being in this forum for some time, I felt a moment of shock and a realization of loss after hearing this news yesterday.
We won't be seeing our falconer anymore :cry:.

May his soul rest in peace.

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I have always considered this as a downside of online forums, especially when you have come to know each other well, and yet you don’t know any more than the profile picture logo(especially when you don’t have your face on it) a bunch of pixels.

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Hello

I am Jonathon's brother, I would just like to say thank you all so much for the very kind messages.

I was going to post an image which much better representation of how I will remember him but I'll try to get my post count up and try again :smiley:

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That would be nice of you, I had found this photo on FOSSHOST some time ago.
Glad that you have registered here.
I just made you a member so you can post it.

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Thank you @SGS

Just for context this is at my daughters birthday. Same shirt :rofl:
jof

Yes that is Jake and Princess Bubblegum.

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I'd known Jonathon for many years including Ubuntu he was a great guy its so sad to hear this but there is a saying only the good die young. RIP Jonathon you were unique in this messed up world,

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Hi @thomassb , good to see you.

Your brother was a really kind and knowledgeable man. He used to guide and help me a lot.

His sad demise have left a void in entire Linux community, which can not to filled. My deepest condolences on his untimely death.

By the way, was he ill for last couple of months? I have been thinking about this the whole night, and can't take this out of my mind.

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Same here. We all have stories with him, and even though mine was quite short, it was enough to leave a positive mark of him inside me.

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Thank you @thomassb for posting some more pics of Jon. It helps to personalize him for those that never had the pleasure of meeting him, (in the flesh). He was a special person, and to me he was like the book of knowledge. He was expert in almost every facet of Linux, and in all the years I knew him rarely was he ever unable to answer a question put to him. He was who everyone turned to for advice, as he seemingly knew everything, and always managed to say the right thing.

As much as everyone is wanting to know more details about how (or why) Jon passed, I ask everyone to please respect the families privacy and not to pry.

Thank you Thomas for joining our forum. It is surely helping all those who Jonathon touched with his generosity come to grips with his untimely passing.

Jon will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him regardless of if the friendship was only via the internet. Jon was a great friend and mentor to many in the Linux community and his passing leaves a massive void that will never be filled.

My condolences to everyone in your family Thomas, on the premature loss of your brother Jonathon.

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Again thank you all for the messages.

Jonathon was a very private man but I am sure he would not mind me giving a quick overview of his situation from my perspective.
He had been quietly battling cancer, the last 5 months of his life had seen a dramatic turn for the worse. Fortunately he managed to spend a few of hours at home for Christmas.

On the January 7th, he died at home surrounded by people who loved him.

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I'm sorry for your loss. I also saw your posting over at Endeavour as well. I'm truly sorry for your loss. I hadn't spoken to him for a couple months directly, and now I understand more why. They say you can measure the value of a man by how he treats others who can give nothing in return. Obviously many of us will never know him at the level you and your family do, but be sure with everything he has done, all the people who are in this community and Linux community beyond this little forum. . . . with help directly from him, or using things he's built/maintained. . . You cannot possibly imagine the number of people he has indirectly helped over the years. He's helped people who will never even know they were being helped in the first place.

The loss for us as a community is huge. The loss for your family is unfathomable though. I hope knowing how much of an impact he was to many can help bring some solace to what is without a doubt a sombre time.

I'll have a drink in his honour (I even spelled it wrong for him). And possibly a burnout or two. We did enjoy talking about cars in our deviation from Arch chatter.

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