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2013
Rest in peace, deceased Wikipedians. We promise we will never forget your contributions.

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Aaron Swartz (AaronSw)

Aaron H. Swartz known as AaronSw on Wikipedia
Departed January 11, 2013

"I just can't believe someone so brilliant is gone so soon." /ƒETCHCOMMS/

This is an irreconcilable loss for humanity! We were fortunate to share his association, and as stewards, responsible to adopt his endeavors into our care, and conservancy. RIP (condolences)


Aaron Swartz died in New York City on January 11, age 26.[1] Among other achievements, he was a co-author of the RSS syndication standard, and known for his attempt in January 2011 to scrape large amounts of academic articles from the JSTOR online journal archive with the intent to freely distribute them (see Signpost article). According to close friends, he battled with depression late in his life and was to begin trial for his alleged breach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Swartz made more than 5,000 edits to Wikipedia, and created or worked on a number of articles including George Gilder, Tom the Dancing Bug, and US Civil liberties. He was also known for his "landmark analysis" of this site, Who Writes Wikipedia.[2][3]

His friend Cory Doctorow wrote a heartfelt tribute, and Erik Möller wrote a Wikimedia Blog post. Numerous Wikipedians left memorials on his English Wikipedia user talk page.

Roger Ebert (Rebert)

Roger Ebert

Though it was never fully confirmed that he was an editor, film critic Roger Ebert frequently cited Wikipedia in his reviews. Rebert's edits were limited, but support the assertion that he was an editor.

Atul Chitnis (Achitnis)

Atul in 2010

Atul Chitnis, a Wikipedian and technologist, passed away on June 3, 2013, at the age of 51.[4][5][6]

John T. Riedl (Riedl)

Riedl in 2004

John T. Riedl was a computer scientist and professor at the University of Minnesota. On Wikipedia, he mainly edited articles related to science and mathematics.[7]

Jackson Peebles (Jackson Peebles)

Jackson Peebles in 2010

Jackson Peebles passed away in late October. Jackson was a "brilliant" Western Michigan University Honors student studying behavioral science and biology. He worked as an ice hockey referee and volunteered with the Red Cross. His Wikipedia efforts focused on counter-vandalism and adoption, "greeting new users, encouraging civility, and obsessively reviewing recent changes". His last edit to our site was on October 21, 2013, the day he died. Jackson welcomed an IP editor to Wikipedia.

Please leave remembrances and condolences at Jackson's talk page. We'll try and contact the family and share your thoughts with them. You can read more reflections on Jackson's amazing life here. Donations to the Kalamazoo NAMI chapter would have made Jackson very happy and are the family's wish. Ocaasi t | c 14:26, 20 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  • Jackson Peebles Obituary, Schoolcraft, MI [1]
  • WMU students, professors remember Jackson Peebles, 21, Medallion scholar [2]

Liam Segaert (Diamant)

Diamant was active on the Dutch Wikipedia, having started at the young age of 8 years old. He died on November 16, 2013, at the age of 13, 4 days after undergoing surgery for type II spinal muscular atrophy.

References

  1. ^ Cai, Anne (January 12, 2013). "Aaron Swartz commits suicide". The Tech. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  2. ^ "Computer activist & reddit co-owner Aaron Swartz commits suicide" by Anne Sewell, Digital Journal, Jan 12, 2013
  3. ^ "Who The Hell Writes Wikipedia, Anyway?" by Henry Blodget, Business Insider, Jan. 3, 2009
  4. ^ "R.I.P. Atul Chitnis: The Man Who Changed the Open Source World". NextBigWhat.
  5. ^ "Shine on, You Crazy Diamond: Atul Chitnis (1962-2013)". NDTV. June 3, 2013.
  6. ^ "Losing a friend, virtually". The Hindu Business Line Blogs. June 3, 2013.
  7. ^ Taraborelli, Dario. "Researching collaboration for a better world: John T. Riedl (1962 – 2013)". Wikimedia blog. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 28 July 2013.