The news was passed on to me today by his Son Jamie. The forum team were aware of James’ illness and had only just commented privately our concerns, as we had not heard from him in recent weeks.
James work here in the openSUSE forum is without question a model we would all do well to follow. Though I have never met James in person I nevertheless consider him dear to my heart and I know the rest of the team feel as I do. His countless Articles/Blogs offering guides and assistance will endure for many years.
I thought you would like to read the email addressed to me by his Son Jamie:
Hello. My name is Jamie McDaniel, my dad is James McDaniel, a global moderator on this forum. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon cancer in June of this year. Unfortunately, he lost his battle this past Monday after complications from a surgery involving Crohn’s disease from which he also suffered. I know he spent many hours on this forum trying to to help people, which was his passion. I wasn’t sure if there was some way to post something about his passing and possibly the link to the funeral home’s website so well-wishers could leave comments in the guest book if they wanted. Let me know what I need to do!
On 2014-01-02 11:36, caf4926 wrote:
>
> Words cannot really express the great sadness we have in announcing to
> you all the Passing Away of our friend and colleague James McDaniel
> https://forums.opensuse.org/members/jdmcdaniel3.html
Oh. I’m sorry.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Elessar))
As staff we knew from his illness, but in fact he, and thus we, were very positive about his chances.
Apart from the human side of this, our thought are with his family, he realy was a factor in our forums. His blogs and scripts helped many to repair their systems and to understand openSUSE better.
Yes, I will miss “James again from Austin, Texas”.
Very, very sorry to learn of James passing. I will remember the level of dedication, expertise and courtesy demonstrated in each and every one of his many posts. He will be sorely missed.
Very sad news. His generous contributions to the openSUSE community were highly valued. I’m sure he’ll be sorely missed,
especially by his friends and family to whom I convey my condolescences.
Very sorry to here this news. James had helped me in the past and I know his expertise and patience will be missed. My thoughts will be with his family and friends.
caf4926 wrote:
>
> Words cannot really express the great sadness we have in announcing to
> you all the Passing Away of our friend and colleague James McDaniel
> https://forums.opensuse.org/members/jdmcdaniel3.html
>
2013 has been a sad year for openSUSE forums/community.
First 2013 took Denver (dd) from us and now James
They will be surely missed
–
Version 3.10.2
openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86_64) 64-bit
Kernel Linux 3.11.6-4-desktop
Like many others on this forum, and in the openSUSE community, we will miss James and his excellent and most helpful contributions. I learned a lot off of him, not only wrt the technical, but also with respect to his superb way of working with people.
My condolences to his family in this time of grief.
On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 10:36:01 +0000, caf4926 wrote:
> James work here in the openSUSE forum is without question a model we
> would all do well to follow. Though I have never met James in person I
> nevertheless consider him dear to my heart and I know the rest of the
> team feel as I do. His countless Articles/Blogs offering guides and
> assistance will endure for many years.
Yes, absolutely. Also, his various scripts for building the kernel and
other things - he brought an expertise that will be missed, along with a
positive outlook that was incredible, even with what he was dealing with.
I can only echo what others are saying here. He was not only technically adept, but a genuinely nice person, always aiming to help fellow Linux users in the most constructive way possible. As a moderator, we knew some of the circumstances that he was bravely coping with, but it never stopped his efforts here, and I really admire that.
> Yes, absolutely. Also, his various scripts for building the kernel and
> other things - he brought an expertise that will be missed, along with a
> positive outlook that was incredible, even with what he was dealing with.
His expertise on scripts will be missed. I had noticed that his reports on new
kernel releases were missing, but I did not know of his illness.
Together with his extensive knowledge and willingness to help, what I most admired in him was his invariably polite and objective attitude. Instead of telling others how one should behave, he taught by example. Really a great loss.
RIP Jdmcdaniel3.
I noticed he hadn’t replied for a while. One of the members whom i was particularly fond of. Sad news indeed.
Wish his family the best.
Please convey to your family that we here respected your dad’s understanding of Linux and his giving spirit enormously. A most knowledgeable man. He is an icon here.
I also came to know that he was a dedicated family man, I’m so sorry for your family’s loss.
