[HN Gopher] Mikeal Rogers has died
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Mikeal Rogers has died
Author : neom
Score : 161 points
Date : 2025-06-10 13:43 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (b.h4x.zip)
(TXT) w3m dump (b.h4x.zip)
| outside1234 wrote:
| Cancer sucks. I met Mikeal at a node.js conference probably ten
| years ago and we had a spirited argument. While I didn't agree
| with him, he galvanized my thinking about what needed to change,
| and we need more people like that in the world.
| skeptrune wrote:
| I never met Mikeal, but was still touched second-hand by the
| lovely messages on the cancer-diaries repository he opened up[1].
|
| [1]: https://github.com/mikeal/cancer-diaries/pulls?q=is%3Apr
| jonchurch_ wrote:
| Sad to hear this but even happier now about the existence of the
| Node.js documentary[0]. Glad this happened and that some of his
| stories of Node's early days are recorded.
|
| [0] https://youtu.be/LB8KwiiUGy0?t=705
| jerrysievert wrote:
| oh gosh, I have so many great memories of Mikeal due to the
| wonderful javascript community, and am really sad to hear he has
| passed.
|
| I hope others were able to be delighted by spending time with
| him, as I was.
|
| maybe someone else who gets the inside joke will built a
| naanument to him.
| meandave wrote:
| Mikeal was extremely welcoming to me when I met him over a decade
| ago, It was either JSConf or NodeCamp, He was always super
| insightful and encouraging to my personal growth as an engineer
| and open source contributor. NodeJS wouldn't be what it is
| without him, especially the community around it in the early
| days. I got to work with him for a bit at protocol labs. This is
| a major loss to open source
| cdata wrote:
| I had the pleasure of meeting Mikeal on a few occasions, but
| mainly I've benefited from his work over the years (initially via
| the JavaScript ecosystem, and later through the Protocol Labs
| community).
|
| PouchDB was way ahead of its time, and I'm just now coming around
| to how crazy cool it was and is compared to most other tech in
| its space.
|
| He made a great deal of positive impact on technical areas I care
| about. Rest in peace.
| mgkimsal wrote:
| Even when you know it's coming, it's hard to process. Met Mikeal
| at oscon in ... 2007 I think, where he was presenting windmill as
| a testing tool for js/ajax. We kept in touch for a few years, and
| he was kind enough to meet up with me during some travel time in
| California the following year. He took great joy in introducing
| me to some tapas place I can't remember now, but I do remember
| the excitement he had just... telling me about it. That low key
| passion (tech, food, anything else) is one of the things I still
| remember about the few times we met in person.
|
| Reading about his cancer last year was difficult, not so much for
| him directly; he seemed to have made peace with it (that's the
| impression I got anyway). But it's a reminder of my own
| mortality, and I know I would not react or continue on the way he
| did. That's difficult to acknowledge.
| unwiredben wrote:
| I got to hang with him a little in the early 2010s when I was
| doing JavaScript work and found him nice and personable. I'm so
| sorry for his early passing.
| peterbraden wrote:
| Shit, never expected to see an announcement that a friend had
| died through HN. Learned a lot from you Mikeal, you will be
| missed.
| s5fs wrote:
| Mikeal was instrumental in helping me get established in the node
| community when it was super tiny. Being around him was a joy! He
| made those around him feel part of something special. He made me
| feel like I belonged.
|
| I was a camp counselor at node camp three years in a row. He
| created such a magical experience that I cried when I got home, I
| wanted to live in nodecamp forever. I still do.
|
| Seeing some of the folks posting in here makes it hurt worse. I
| have so many memories, like I remember all of us riding the bus
| back and forth to the camp, so much laughter and fucking around.
| Hanging at each others houses, going to meetups, and just being
| part of something special. Talking shit thru pull requests. Late
| night dorking around on meatspac.es etc etc etc I could go on for
| days.
|
| Thank you Mikeal for all the good times.
| duluca wrote:
| RIP Mikeal, those early NodeConf adventures were life-changing to
| me, ripped me out of my entrenched MSFT tech life, and got me on
| a Mac. It's thanks to these events I was able make meaningful
| contributions to OSS, ultimately ended up giving dozens of talks,
| publishing books, and have fulfilling career. Without him my life
| looks very different.
| stevelacy wrote:
| Mikeal used to organize bicycle + coffee meetups in SF many years
| ago, and was very welcoming to anyone getting into Nodejs.
| reid wrote:
| Many great memories with Mikeal at the first few NodeConfs,
| walking around Portland, debates over coffee in Oakland, and
| NodeConf Adventure at Walker Creek Ranch. Very thankful for what
| Mikeal has done in the JS community. So sad to hear of his
| passing.
| essgee wrote:
| I had the pleasure of meeting Mikeal on IRC when we were just
| teenagers. Countless hours were spent on owned meetingplace
| servers getting to know one another. I always found myself
| impressed with his breadth of knowledge on nearly every topic of
| conversation.
|
| We let several years pass before reconnecting two years ago this
| month. We sat at the alameda yacht club for hours discussing
| family, fatherhood, career, and sutras, his passion was as
| addictive as it had always been.
|
| With a newborn, he had every reason to avoid meeting, but his
| nature was giving. By the end we had affirmed our friendship and
| my heart was calm. We agreed to meet again. My belief is that
| some day we will.
|
| I love you Mikeal and I will miss you dearly.
| jlipps wrote:
| RIP Mikeal. Will always fondly remember our random
| philosophy/religion chats at tech conferences.
| paulbjensen wrote:
| I remember him being a well-known person in the early days of
| Node.js around 2011/2012, being on the NodeUp podcast and active
| on Twitter back then.
|
| I'm sorry to hear of his passing.
| assimpleaspossi wrote:
| I might feel bad if I only knew who he was and, so far, I haven't
| been able to find that out and no one has mentioned it here.
| sh1mmer wrote:
| When Node was just getting big I met Mikael for the first time at
| some Node event or another. It's hard to overstate or forget how
| welcoming he was, always excited to see folks, and the one
| getting the energy of the room going.
|
| The more time I spent with Mikael the more I saw him doing all
| the small things that needed doing for a community, or an event.
| Even just hanging out Mikael was always so considerate and tried
| to make things special for everyone.
|
| He will be missed.
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